Who You Are
by fandomsecrets
Summary: AU Malec fic. Alec's world is turned upside down when the sparkly new kid, Magnus Bane, walks into his school and steals his heart.
1. Bane

**Hey guys! This is my new Malec fanfic! I really hope you all like it! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update it, or how often I should update it. So review and let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Enjoy!**

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Alec rolled over in his bed, pulling his pillow over his head to muffle the sound of the alarm clock blaring through his room. Eventually he couldn't ignore it and slowly dragged himself out of bed, slamming his fist into the top of the alarm clock, and made his way to the bathroom. Having a private bathroom was one of the best things about going to a private school. He did have to share it with Jace, but since they were brothers it didn't really matter to him all that much. Their rooms were connected by the bathroom, which made it very easy to get privacy when you wanted it. Alec was just glad that he ended up sharing with Jace all these years and not some random stranger.

Alec stared at his reflection in the mirror, trying to find something that separated how he looked today from how he looked every other day. His black hair was messy like usual, cascading across his forehead in its usual, tangled way. His cheek was covered with imprints from the sheets, making him look like he'd just lost a fight with a cat. His eyes were tired and drooping, the bags under his eyes even more defined than usual. He should have been excited; this was it, the home stretch. After this year, high school would be over. Everything would be different, better. Alec's thoughts were interrupted as Jace trudged into the bathroom toward the sink. Jace, of course, looked like he'd just stepped out of the page of a magazine. He had been out last night enjoying his last night of freedom before the school started. Alec had been invited, but parties just weren't his thing. He would rather be kicking ass on the soccer field. That was the one thing he was good at, the one thing he was better at than Jace at. It's not that he resented Jace, it's just that sometimes it was hard to deal with the fact that everything came easily to him. When he wanted a girlfriend, he had one. When he wanted a good grade in a class, he could get it. It wasn't bad, just frustrating.

Jace brushed his teeth silently, rubbing his eyes like he wanted to rip them out. He obviously had a hangover. Great. Just what everyone needed on the first day back; a hangover induced, grumpy Jace. Alec finished before Jace and went back into his room without a word. Hopefully Jace would be back to normal by first period, or they were all going to be in for it. Alec's door burst open and Isabelle entered grinning like it was Christmas morning. She slammed the door and sat on his bed with poise, as if she hadn't just broken into his room and possibly broken the lock on the door.

"Only one more year," she breathed as Alec put a shirt on. Isabelle had spent her summer finishing Junior year so she could graduate early, placing herself, Jace, and Alec all in this years graduating class. Alec envied her ease with academics. He got good grades, but the difference was that he had to study really hard for them. Isabelle just breezed through school like it was kindergarten every year.

"Pretty exciting." Alec responded blankly. He really wasn't in the mood for last-year-of-high-school musings.

"Mom's got another go-see for me for Channel's new perfume line. So if I nail it, I'll be missing school again." Alec felt his mood deflate even more. The success of his family was a blessing and a curse. His parents had just recently allowed Isabelle and Jace to start working on their careers, with the one rule that they had to finish high school. Isabelle had taken to modeling, while Jace took the acting route. Alec had chosen soccer, and he was extremely grateful that soccer couldn't be fully pursued until after high school. He and his younger brother Max were both pretty reserved, and neither of them had really tried jump into the limelight just yet. The busy schedules, the paparazzi, the whole idea of fame seemed pretty terrible. Well, Alec thought so at least. Usually the paparazzi just stuck around their parents, but occasionally Alec, Isabelle, or Jace would be followed. Jace and Isabelle didn't seem to mind being stalked around town. They ate up the attention, at school and in public. But that wasn't Alec. Alec didn't like to be stared at or talked about. And of course, the fact that his sexuality was still a secret didn't make any of it easier. No one, not even his family, knew that he was gay. Well, no one but Isabelle. But that had been an accident. She figured out and asked him about it, and he decided it was stupid to lie when she already knew.

Jace barged in before Alec had any time to respond to Isabelle and plopped down the the bed next to his sister.

"Oh my god. My head." Jace was still rubbing his eyes.

"And whose fault is that, dumb ass?" Isabelle retorted with a smile. Jace groaned and pulled Alec's pillow over his head.

"When a pretty girl offers you a drink you can't say no. Help me out, Alec." Jace begged through the pillow, muffling his voice. Alec rolled his eyes and grabbed the pillow from Jace.

"We need to go to class." he told them.

Isabelle shrugged and walked toward the door, looking over her shoulder skeptically at Jace. "Good luck." she told Alec, smiling mischievously as she walked out the door.

After dragging Jace's sorry ass to his class, Alec walked into his own class and took his usual seat in the middle row on the edge. He liked being able to read the board easily, but that didn't mean he would completely sacrifice his need to blend in. Although, it was going to be hard this year, after Jace's big movie this summer. Sometimes Alec wished his family had normal jobs, but then he would always mentally slap himself for being so selfish.

The other students slowly filed into the class, taking their usual seats. There were a few new kids, but most of Alec's classes would be the same people he'd been with since freshman year. This school was pretty exclusive, which meant you basically had to be brilliant or rich to get in; which let to a school full of snobs. No, that's not fair, everyone here isn't a snob… just most of them.

One of the new kids walked over to him and slid carefully in the desk next to him. Her hair was a fiery red, standing out severely against her pale skin. She was beautiful in her own way, but she looked a bit uncomfortable.. though Alec couldn't quite place why. Alec watched wrap her arms around her tiny frame, shivering at the cold temperature of the room. Alec couldn't remember a time when Professor Garroway hadn't kept the room above freezing. She looked a little younger than him and Alec wondered if she had tested above her grade to get into this class. She caught him looking at her and smiled wryly.

"Is it always this cold in here?" she asked, rubbing her arms for emphasis.

"Unfortunately." he replied, the corners of his mouth curling upward slightly.

"Oh, cool, you're British." She said, her eyes wide with questions. Alec smiled with delight when he realized she didn't recognize him. She must be new to the school, not just the class.

"My family lived in England until I was fourteen." he told her. "What about you?"

The girl adjusted her uniform nervously. "I live just a few minutes from here with my mom. I'm here on the art scholarship."

Alec stared at her for a moment. She must have gone to a public school before this, otherwise she would know that being here on scholarship wasn't necessarily a good thing to some of the kids at this school. A lot of the kids that went here were here on scholarships, but that didn't mean the obnoxious rich kids thought it was acceptable. Alec didn't really like those kids, and neither did Jace or Isabelle. They all three preferred genuine people, no matter if they were rich or not. Especially after Lightwood Enterprises took off and there were more fake friends than Alec cared to count. "What kind of art?" he asked, but was cut off by Professor Garroway announcing the beginning of class.

"I'm Clary, by the way. Clary Fray." the girl, apparently Clary, whispered to him.

"Alec Lightwood," He responded simply. He watched as her eyes grew wide in recognition. Alec had been waiting for that.

"As in Lightwood Enterprises?"

"Yup."

"Damn." She said. "What the hell school did I choose?"

Alec laughed loudly, earning a glare from Professor Garroway. Clary smiled at him reassuringly and turned her attention toward the Professor.

"As I was saying," Professor Garroway glared at Alec for a moment, "we are going to delve into the deep roots of literature, its interior and exterior-"

The Professor was interrupted by the door being slammed open, a sparkly student entering the room quickly. The boy's hair was spiked straight in the air, littered with glitter. His eyes were decorated similarly, with the addition of coal smudged around his eyes. The boy scoured the room for an empty seat, looking nervous.

"Nice of you to join us, Bane. There is a seat behind Lightwood." Professor Garroway told him, pointing to Alec. The boy hurried to his seat, sliding into his desk with unnecessary force. Alec noticed that his uniform was a little different -more personalized- than everyone else's. He wondered if the boy would get in trouble for that later.

But the uniform wasn't what really drew attention to the boy. His face was. He had prominent cheekbones and a strong jaw, which were highlighted by his smooth, caramel skin. His eyes were slanted and perfectly shaped, an oddly beautiful greenish gold color. He was the most beautiful human being Alec had ever laid eyes upon. Alec heard Professor Garroway resume speaking and snapped his head toward the front of the class. Hopefully the boy hadn't noticed Alec ogling him. Oh god. Alec sunk low in his seat.

This was going to be a long year.

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**So how did you like it? Review and let me know if I should keep going or not. :)**


	2. Soccer & Popsicles

**Hey guys! Thank you for all your reviews! I've never gotten 9 on 1 chapter before so YAY! I'm glad you all liked it! 3 Anyway, here is chapter two. This is more of the length the chapters will be from now on. I'm not exactly sure how often I'll be updating, but I know it will be at least twice a week. I'm sorry for those of you that want a new chapter every day, but I'm just not that fast, no matter how much I wish I was! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to the fabulous Cassandra Clare. *cries***

**Enjoy :)**

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The first few days of school were uneventful, besides having to bail Jace out of trouble a few times. But that was nothing special; Alec was used to sweet talking Jace out of trouble. The teachers here all loved Alec; mainly because he was the only Lightwood who _didn't _ wreck havoc everywhere he went. Jace and Isabelle were known for their partying, while Alec was the quiet soccer player that everybody pretty much left alone.

Clary and Alec had begun sitting with each other at lunch every day, since Jace and Isabelle had a different lunch hour this semester. It was really weird not to be sitting with his siblings. Alec was really grateful to have Clary to sit with, because he was used to only having Jace and Isabelle. He didn't really make friends easily, but usually it was fine because he had Jace.

It turned out that Clary was a junior, despite her young face and tiny frame. She grew up in the city with her brother and her mother, who just so happened to be engaged to Professor Garroway. Small world.

Clary's father died when she was young, and she said she couldn't remember him at all, so it wasn't really painful. She had grown up going to public school with her best friend Simon, who started attending Alicante last year on scholarship because of his extraordinary test scores. Clary auditioned for the art scholarship so she could be with Simon at this school. Clary swore up and down that she and Simon were just friends, but with the way he looked at her, Alec was _sure _Simon was hoping for more. Simon skipped lunch the first two days of school, and then began sitting with Clary and Alec. Alec didn't mind, except for when Simon went on tirades about star wars for the whole hour… like he was doing right now.

"It's not Luke's fault he kissed his sister! How was he supposed to know they were related?" Simon demanded. Alec rolled his eyes while Clary argued with him.

"Because you should be able to tell! It's like, instinct or something!"

"He grew up on Tatooine! That's lightyears away from Alderaan!"

"Oh my god," Clary sighed, dropping her head into her hands. Alec sighed loudly, trying to make them shut up without actually having to say it. This was becoming a daily occurrence, and Alec could only take so much of it. Alec heard the lunch bell ring and silently rejoiced as they all gathered their things and left the cafeteria. Alec only had two classes with Clary; English and History. History was the next and last class on his schedule. Isabelle and Jace were in every class of his except English, which was a relief. Alec wasn't a social butterfly like his siblings, and it was really surprising that he had hit it off with Clary. When they reached the class, Clary took her usual seat on the opposite side of the room as Alec, next to Simon, while he sat with Jace and Isabelle. Just before the Professor shut the door, one more student squeezed past her, earning a quiet chuckle.

"Bane, I suggest you work on being more prompt. You're starting to earn a reputation." Professor Seelie told him with a smile. That was the great thing about Professor Seelie; she genuinely liked her job. Most of the teachers, discounting about four, honestly hated their jobs, and were quite vocal about it. But not Professor Seelie. She taught her class with grace and humor, and all her students loved her by the end of the semester. Alec had been in a class with her last year, so he knew everything there was to know about Professor Seelie and her jokes.

Bane looked at her worriedly, apparently not catching the teasing tone of her voice. She shewed him off to his seat with a smile and began teaching. It was group project day, and everyone loved those days. Who wouldn't, when you had twice as long to get your project done, and you got to split the work in half? Usually Professor Seelie let people choose their own partners, but there had been a lot of cheating going on last year, so she announced that she would be picking who partnered with whom. Alec barely listened as she called off the names, partner by partner. In the end, the pairings were Simon and some girl named Maia, Jace and Clary, Isabelle and Jordan (Who, as it seemed from them making out in the back of the class, was dating Maia), and himself with that Bane kid. Alec groaned inwardly at the pairing. The last thing he needed was to be paired with a hot, obviously gay guy. It was already hard enough not to gawk when he was across the room. Alec didn't even want to imagine the hell he was going to go through trying to keep his attraction to the guy under wraps.

"Alright, now I would like you all to disperse through the class, wherever you like, and talk about your project with your partner." Professor Seelie announced. The class groaned but complied, some pushing their desks together to make a solid table to work at, and some sitting on the floor together.

"Alec, right?" a smooth voice asked from behind him. Alec turned around to see a beautiful pair of golden-green eyes staring at him quizzically. Damn, this guy was hot.

"Uh, yeah." Alec mumbled, trying to clear his head. He pulled Jace's now empty desk toward his, and gestured toward the seat, inviting him to sit.

"I'm Magnus, by the way." he said, his eyes twinkling. Magnus. _Of course_ he would have a hot and exotic name. God dammit.

"Nice to meet you," Alec said, looking down at his desk. Magnus sat down across from Alec and began sketching. Alec watched him, curiosity overtaking his urge to withdraw into his shell of comfort.

"I think we should do the history of popsicle." Magnus told him, showing him the popsicle he had just drawn.

"Are you serious?"

"Completely." Magnus had a teasing look in his eyes, but Alec could tell he wasn't joking about the project.

"She'll fail us!" Alec protested. There was no way, no matter _how_ nice she was, Professor Seelie would put up with this.

"She said we could write about anything we want."

"There is no way I'm doing that." Alec told him.

Magnus rolled his eyes dramatically and leaned back against his chair. "What would you suggest then?"

Alec thought hard, trying to come up with something in the small amount of time he had to work with, but came up blank. He had nothing. Magnus looked at him expectantly, grinning when he knew he'd won the argument.

"Popsicles it is!" Magnus declared. Magnus looked at him with disdain at his expression, "Oh, come on. It'll be good, I swear!"

Alec's response was lost in the noise as the bell went off and the students all clattered around the room, gathering their belongings as they hurried out the door. Most of them would probably be enjoying their free time for the rest of the day, but not Alec. He had soccer practice.

"Do you want to start on it today?" Magnus asked.

"I've got soccer practice."

"I meant later, obviously." Magnus raised an eyebrow at him quizzically. Oh god, that should not be legal, Alec thought.

"Sure," Alec responded nonchalantly, silently praying Magnus would show up with a bag on his head so Alec didn't have to look at his undeniably gorgeous face.

"Your room or mine?" Magnus asked with slightly sensual slur in his tone. Alec felt his face warm and gathered his things as quickly as he could.

"Uh, whichever." Alec stuttered. He struggled to pull his wits together, trying desperately not to make his discomfort obvious.

"I'll see you tonight then," Magnus said with a lewd smile. He winked playfully and Alec felt his face burn even hotter. Alec grabbed his things squeezed through the gap between the desks and headed for the door, his neck burning. He felt his face get redder still as Magnus laughed heartily behind him. Alec ran his hand through his hair and bit his lip, nervous habits, and walked down the corridor and out the door toward the soccer field. Alec shook all thoughts of Magnus Bane out of his mind. He would _not _let a little bit of flirting ruin practice. He entered the locker room with a newly cleared head, and quickly changed into his practice clothes. He always made sure to come to practice early so he wouldn't be in here when his teammates were changing or, God forbid, _showering_.

By the time the rest of the team arrived, Alec had already been practicing alone for almost an hour. Nobody really thought anything about it at this point, considering it had been going in for three years. When he had first started coming early, some of his teammates would come with him, different ones on different days. But now it was just him. Occasionally Brad, his closest friend on the soccer team, would come and practice with him, but that was rare.

"God Alec, how long have you been here?" Brad called from the doorway of the locker room. Alec's head snapped to attention, like he was being woken up after a deep sleep. He stared at Brad for a moment, unsure if he had really said anything or if it was his imagination. When Brad didn't move, he decided he must be real.

"I'm not sure. Maybe an hour." He said it like a question. Brad shook his head in disapproval, a look that Alec was completely used to receiving from him.

"You had better not be too tired to kick ass in the game tomorrow." Brad threatened while he walked onto the field toward Alec, looking him up and down with wide eyes. Alec looked down at his body, which he now noticed was covered in sweat. He hadn't realized he had been working his body that hard.

"I'll be alright," Alec promised. Brad nodded hesitantly, but the look on his face said he was dubious.

The rest of the team all exited the locker room together, whooping and hollering when they saw Alec and Brad, who were the stars of the team. This was always the way it was before the first game. No one was ever nervous because their team never lost. Never. Everyone was all smiles and excitement. Alec smiled as the team fell into their usual routine while Coach watched from the sidelines, barely speaking the whole practice. The team had been getting together almost every day of the summer to practice, so they were all used to their routine by the time official practices began.

_This _was what he looked forward to most in the day. This was why he even agreed to come to this school. The soccer program was great, and the coach was the best high school soccer coach in the country. The Alicante school board had paid thousands of dollars to have Coach flown here from his home in London just to interview him. Alec guessed he was being paid a substantial amount of money to remain here. Everyone knew that it was Coach's dream to coach a major team some day, and Alec was _sure_ he would accomplish it.

The team practiced for about an hour until Coach told them all to go get some rest for the game, even though they didn't really need it. It was a home game so they didn't really need to get ready for anything. The first game was always against the worst team in the league, so they had absolutely nothing to worry about.

When Alec reached his room the door was already hanging open. He walked in to see Isabelle sitting on his bed with her laptop. Alec had learned never to be surprised when Isabelle showed up in his room at random. It happened a lot.

"You're finished already?" she asked with surprise, squinting up at him.

"Coach let us off early because of the game tomorrow." Alec set his bag next to his bed and walked into the bathroom. He glanced in the mirror and sighed at what he saw. There was a sheen of sweat over his face and neck, making him look like he'd just come in from a rain storm. There was dirt smudged on his clothes, and a little bit on his face. The pieces of his hair that weren't sticking up in every direction were clinging to his face. Isabelle's head popped in behind him, wrinkling her nose while she took in his appearance. Alec groaned and pushed her out of the bathroom gently. He took a longer shower than usual, sighing as the warm water ran down his aching body. Maybe he _had _overworked himself in practice. When he finished he pulled on a pair of gym shorts, towel drying his hair as he walked back into his room.

"He's in the shower. He should be out in- oh, there he is!" Alec lowered the towel and looked up at Isabelle in confusion. Standing next to her was a tall, black haired beauty with sparkling eyes.

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**So how did you all like it? PLEASE review and let me know what you like or what you don't like. Feedback is KEY for these things! :) thanks! **


	3. I DON'T LIKE HIM

**Oh my god you guys, I can't even deal with how funny the reviews were for the last chapter! I love how much you all enjoyed shirtless Alec hehehe And OH MY GOD thank you guys for reviewing! SEVENTEEN reviews on TWO chapters?! I can't even handle that! Thank you all so much! **

**I'm SO SORRY about how long this has taken to update! I've been really busy with school and I haven't been able to take the proper amount of time to work on it! :(**

**There are a couple of you that I've noticed who have been reviewing every chapter of this story, and also reviewed my other story while I was working on it. And I would like to give you all a personal thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means a lot to me that you read my stuff, and it means a TON to me when you're like a loyal reader! Seriously! Thank you SO FUCKING MUCH 3**

**Anyway, I've been forgetting to say this in like every chapter but, if any of you have any suggestions for the story, I'm totally open to considering them! From funny one liners to big, dramatic moments. **

**Also, my school life is getting really hectic and also I run a twitter account for TMI, so those both take up a lot of time. Basically what I'm saying is that I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update. I swear I'll try to always make time for at least two chapters every week, but I can't make any promises. I love all of you and thank you for reading! **

**One more thing. I'm not sure if I want to do the whole fic from Alec's pov or throw in some Magnus pov. What do you guys think? I'm leaning more towards just Alec, but I want to get a few more opinions. **

**God, this is a long A/N…. sorry guys lol XD**

**Anyway, enjoy :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, no matter how much I wish I did. They all belong to Cassandra Clare. And yes, I do wish I was her about every five seconds of the day. **

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"Damn, looks like I came at the right time." Magnus said with a wink. Alec felt his face heat up as he glanced down at his bare chest and the gym shorts that were riding dangerously low on his hips. Isabelle laughed as he grabbed a clean shirt from the drawer by his bed and pulled it on quickly, scowling in Magnus's general direction.

"I should probably go figure out my project too," Isabelle said to no one in particular. "Text me," she said to Alec with a sly wink. Alec glared after her as she left, mentally throwing her off the roof of the building multiple times. Why was she being so obvious? And why was everyone winking at him?

"So how was soccer practice?" Magnus asked, interrupting Alec's inner tirade. Alec shifted his weight onto one leg awkwardly as he tried to get his brain to work.

"Uh… it was fine." He said lamely. Alec made a mental note to stop saying 'uh'. Magnus laughed and walked over to Alec's bed, sprawling across it and giving Alec a perfect view of his voluptuous ass. Alec looked away quickly before Magnus could catch him staring. God, this was going to be bad. Alec grabbed his laptop off of his desk and sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to touch Magnus at all. Magnus scooted over a little but didn't say anything.

"Do you actually know anything about ice lollies?" Alec asked him.

"Ice lollies?"

"Uh.. 'popsicles' I guess." Alec corrected. Damn, he did it again.

"You are _not _saying that right," Magnus teased. "But no, not specifically. I know they taste good but that's about it." Alec groaned. Not only had he picked the most idiotic subject possible, but he also didn't know anything about it.

They searched the internet for about an hour looking for interesting to put in their project. The only advantage choosing a 'popsicle' had was the picture side. Everyone in the class had to create a slideshow, write ten pages, and bring props. It would probably be pretty easy to bring popsicles into class, so that part wouldn't be very hard. The writing was what proved to be more difficult.

"How are we supposed to write ten pages about a bloody 'popsicle'?" Alec demanded, fed up with the stupidity of the project.

"Don't be dramatic, Alec. We have _weeks _to turn this in." Magnus rolled his eyes at Alec's antics, only making him more frustrated. "Let's just take a break and we can work on it tomorrow." Alec nodded and sighed, cracking his knuckles. Magnus got up from the bed slowly and stretched, causing his shirt to lift and expose a smooth expanse of caramel skin. Alec stared at his exposed flesh for a moment before ripping his eyes away, hoping for the second time today that Magnus hadn't noticed his blatant ogling. When he looked back at Magnus, he was wearing a mischievous smile.

Whatever he had been planning on saying next was interrupted by a knock on the door. No, someone was _beating _on the door. Alec hopped off the bed and open the door quickly. Clary stormed into the room with a look of total fury on her face. Alec turned around to face her, more confused than surprised at her angry entrance.

"What's going on-"

"What the _hell _ is wrong with your brother?" Clary demanded, cutting him off.

"I can assure you there is a vast assortment of problems." Alec told her. "Which one are you referring to?"

"He's such an ass!" she shouted. Alec sighed, unsurprised that Jace had done something to offend her. This kind of thing always happened at some point to all of Alec's friends. Magnus chuckled from corner of the room, earning a glare from Clary.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to offend you," Alec told her. "He just has a way with words that some people aren't used to."

"Calling someone a 'bitchy little twat' isn't what I would call _a way with words." _ Clary fumed. Magnus was trying to cover his laughing mouth, and failing, while Clary glared at him to no avail. "It's not funny!"

"Actually, it is." Magnus replied.

"Who even are you?" Clary demanded.

"Alec's boyfriend." he stated seriously. "We were in the middle of some passionate sex when you barged in. So, if you would please leave and let us finish, that would be great."

Clary looked at Alec dubiously, while Alec's jaw dropped. "No, we were not." Alec choked. He turned to Magnus, trying desperately to ignore the blood that was quickly rushing to his face. "He was just leaving."

Magnus shrugged and walked toward the door, pausing for a moment when he reached it. "Same time tomorrow?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Sure, whatever." Alec said, trying to steady his voice. He could tell his face was red as a tomato, and he didn't want to imagine what Clary was thinking. Magnus smiled devilishly and walked out of the room, shutting the door gently behind himself.

"What…" Clary trailed off. She looked utterly confused.

"That's Magnus. He's my partner for the history project." Alec told her. He could hear the distaste in his voice, and prayed that Clary assumed it was because he didn't like Magnus. Magnus was already making it hard enough to focus just because of how stunningly attractive he was, and he didn't need, or want, all these innuendos.

"Damn," was all Clary said in response. Alec's brain was running wild with all the thoughts Clary was possibly having, all the things she could be putting together. No, she didn't know. She couldn't possibly know.

Clary looked around the room, her eyes widening as she took everything in. Alec followed her gaze, looking around his room. The walls were white, like all the dorm rooms, but the walls were almost completely covered. One wall was covered in bookshelves, broken up by the bathroom door, and the other had a dresser and and a small nightstand against it. His bed and desk were against the other wall. The room was one of the bigger dorm rooms, but it still wasn't large by any stretch, and Alec completely filled it.

"Have you read all these?" she asked, walking toward the bookshelf.

"Yeah…" he responded awkwardly.

"That's impressive." Alec smiled, glad she wasn't going to make fun of him like Jace always did. She glanced at his soccer trophy, the only one he kept at Alicante, in the corner of the room and smiled. "How long have you played soccer?"

"I'm not sure. I don't remember ever _not _playing."

Clary laughed and turned to him to him with an odd expression on her face. "Can I ask you a question, Alec?"

"Of course."

"Are you gay?"

Alec felt his world caving in as he struggled to pull air into his lungs. This couldn't be happening, it _couldn't. _She would tell everyone and everything would be ruined. Jace would hate him. His parents would hate him. Coach would _definitely _kick him off the team. Alec felt his palms sweat as his chest heaved. He opened his mouth, prepared to deny it, when Clary held both of her hands up in a pacifying manner.

"I don't care. If you're gay, I mean. I was just wondering." She said the words quickly, as if she was fighting for her honor. She stared at Alec adamantly, and he shrunk back toward the wall. "Alec, seriously. If I had a problem with it I wouldn't have brought it up. I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about."

Alec visibly relaxed and collapsed on his bed with his head in his hands. What had clued her in? He didn't even want to know. No, wait, yes he did. Alec drew in a long, shaky breath and felt Clary sit down next to him. She put her arm around his shoulder and squeezed gently. She didn't say anything, which Alec was grateful for. Somehow she knew that he wouldn't be able to talk yet. They stayed like that for a while, neither of them moving, until Alec felt his heartbeat slow down enough to get a hold of his senses.

"Thank you."

Clary squeezed his shoulders again and smiled at him. Maybe she really _was _okay with it. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't disgusted by him. Alec smiled back at her, knowing he didn't need to say anything else. She got him, and that was all they needed.

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"He told Clary we were having _sex_!" Alec whispered loudly. No matter how many times he told her about what had happened last night, she just didn't seem to get how big of a deal it was.

"Maybe you _should _have some sex with him," Isabelle told him lewdly. God, she was impossible.

"ISABELLE!"

"God Alec, I'm kidding. But seriously, why don't you just ask him out?" Isabelle spun in circles on Alec's desk chair while he fumed.

"For the last time, I DON'T LIKE HIM!" Alec was past the point of keeping his voice down.

"Jesus! Calm down, will you?"

Alec took a deep breath and massaged his temples. He couldn't deal with this right now. How could Isabelle not see how much this was upsetting him? He had no idea how he was going to last the rest of the month doing a project with Magnus.

Alec shook his head angrily and stormed into the bathroom, hoping to god Isabelle would be gone when he returned. He went into Jace's room and sprawled across his bed, waiting for the slam of his door. When he heard it, he walked back into his room and almost screamed in surprise. Magnus was sitting on the chair in his room where Isabelle had been only minutes ago. He was spinning around in circles, not paying any attention to Alec as he walked into the room.

"How did you get in here?" Alec asked.

Magnus's chair immediately halted it's rotation, and he stared at Alec with surprise. Only Magnus would be surprised to see him in _his own room. _

"Your sister let me in." He said casually, and began spinning again. Alec groaned inwardly. The last thing he needed today was Magnus Bane surprising him in his room.

"I have a game. I thought this was supposed to be later." he told Magnus.

Magnus threw his head back and sighed in exasperation. "You are _so difficult._"

Alec rolled his eyes and tried to hold back a smile. He grabbed his bag from the side of his bed and headed into the bathroom without a word. He emerged a moment later in his soccer uniform and gave Magnus a pointed look, trying to get him to leave without actually having to ask him.

"Ooo, you changed into your sexy soccer outfit," Magnus observed, his eyes raking over Alec's body. "Hot."

Alec felt himself turn red, and tried to calm his racing pulse. Magnus's eyes were piercing into Alec's with an emotion he couldn't quite grasp. Magnus's beautiful golden-green eyes suddenly snapped back to Alec's face and he licked his lips absently. "Let's go."

"Woah," Alec protested, "_Let's?" _

"Don't get your panties in a wad, Lightwood. I'm not going for _you._" An odd assortment of relief and disappointment flooded Alec's emotions. He felt himself growing redder and redder every moment that passed.

Magnus pulled himself off the chair and walked toward the door, stopping for a moment to look over his shoulder at Alec. "You coming?"

Alec shook his head roughly, trying to free his mind of the images of Magnus's perfect ass, which was very prominent in the tight leather pants he was wearing, and followed him.

The game went smoothly and Alec's team won by a landslide. It wasn't a surprise to win, but it still made the team happy as a whole. Brad and Alec were the stars of the field, like usual, and Coach had taken them aside after the game.

"You chaps know that _you'll _be the ones all them scouts are looking out for, yeah?" Alec and Brad exchanged a surprised, but pleased smile.

"We do now," Brad said.

"Make sure you keep your game up," Coach told them seriously. "This is your futures we're talking about."

Alec nodded fervently. "Of course."

Coach walked away without another word, leaving Brad and Alec stunned into silence while the rest of the team celebrated.

"Oh my god," Brad breathed.

Before Alec could form a coherent sentence, Isabelle and Jace walked over to them and Isabelle slung her arm over Alec's shoulder. "Great game!" she told him, squeezing his neck rather tightly.

"They looked absolutely legless compared to you all!" Jace exclaimed, punching Brad's arm lightly. "Nicely done."

Alec knew Isabelle was saying something to him, but he could barely hear her. Coach had just told him he had a shot at making this a career. A _career. _

Alec's thoughts were interrupted by something brushing across his ass slowly. He jumped and snapped his head back, meeting a pair of golden-green orbs he would recognize anywhere.

"Nice job out there," Magnus said with a wink. Alec felt his stomach drop to the ground. Magnus wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Alec's bewildered expression. The girl standing next to him giggled and punched his arm lightly. Magnus smiled at her and kept walking as if nothing had happened. Alec watched him walk away in horror. His eyes shot back to the rest of the group, who had apparently missed the whole scene. Alec could tell his face was a brighter red than it had ever been before.

What the bloody hell was he going to do about Magnus Bane?

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**So how did you all like this chapter? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! I'd really like to get ten reviews on the next chapter, if that's possible. I don't want to be one of those whiny people who complain about reviews all the time... but they just make me so happy! 3 I love you all, let me know what you think of this chapter! **


	4. I Don't Get It?

**Okay guys! I'm SO SORRY for how long this chapter has taken to update! I got a request on the last chapter to make them longer, so I tried to do that on this one. This one is almost double the length of the usual ones (It's more than 4,000 words, OH MY GOD), so it's your choice on what you want. I can make them longer but you'll have about double the waiting time, or I can make them the usual length and you'll get them every other day or every two days. Let me know what you want. **

**But also I shouldn't bullshit you guys. I was pretty busy this week. I've been recording and practicing all week and my schedule is getting kind of hectic. To give you some perspective, I finished this chapter at 5:00 in the morning because that was the only time I had. Yeah. **

**AND HOLD MOTHER OF GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! I asked for ten and you guys gave me more than ten. Wow. I love you all so much, thank you. Seriously, thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means SO MUCH to me that you all are reading and enjoying my story. **

**I've gotten somewhat mixed reviews about whether or not to make a chapter in Magnus's POV, but I think, according to how many people want it, I'm going to make the next one Magnus's POV. To those of you who said you didn't want it, I'm sorry, but I'm going with popular demand on this one. Plus after this chapter I think you'll want a peek inside Magnus's head *wink***

**Enough of my blathering! Enjoy this chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or the names of specific places or things. Cassandra Clare is the lovely mastermind behind all of this. I'm extremely envious. Ugh. **

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Alec was so tired of English class at this point. Professor Garroway was a great teacher, he really was, but English was not Alec's strong point. This semester was focusing on grammar, and Alec was seriously considering dropping the class. Alec was used to passing classes with all A's or a few B's, but this class was proving to be more difficult, which was annoying because usually senior year was supposed to be easier than the previous year. Alec had received a D- on his test today, and he was _sure_ he was going to fail out of this class by the end of the semester. And he couldn't do that. This was his senior year for crying out loud! He couldn't afford to fail any classes. Clary leaned over toward Alec's desk while he stared blankly at his test score, a nauseous feeling brewing in the bottom of his stomach.

"Ouch," she said, staring at the grade on his paper.

Alec chewed on his lip nervously. "What did you get?"

Clary hesitated, guilt clouding her features. "One hundred."

"_Are you joking?_"

"My mom's a writer and she kind of forced me to learn how to write well, so I'm pretty good at this kind of thing. I could help you if you want." Clary offered.

"Of course! That would be amazing!" Alec nearly shouted. "Come to my room after practice."

"Will _Jace _ be there?" she asked. Alec laughed at the obviously disapproval in her voice.

"He _does _live there, Clary."

Clary groaned. "Fine, just don't tell him I'm going to be there. I'd like to spend the least amount of time possible with that ass."

"He really isn't that bad, I swear." Alec told her with a laugh.

Finally the bell rang, releasing them from this god forsaken class. Alec made sure to avoid eye contact with Magnus, who he knew was behind him, and bolted straight for the door after briefly exchanging goodbyes with Clary. He didn't need to see Magnus outside of working on the project. Sure, he may have _wanted to see him, _but that was irrelevant. It was to hard to be around Magnus for more than one reason. Isabelle had been texting him quite often throughout school, but he had neglected to read any of them. To be honest, he was still a little miffed at her. Why couldn't she just understand that not everyone wants to parade their lives in the public for the world to see. Okay, maybe just the school as of now, but you never know! Alec knew he couldn't deal with the shit people would give him for it either. He thought about Lightwood Enterprises, and how disappointed his parents would be to have their son end up as a punch line on Saturday Night Live. Their parents had worked for _years_ to build this company, and they had been successful. They had been neck and neck with Warner Bros. for years, and they had finally beat them. His parents ran the most successful production company in the world right now. That's how Jace had managed to stick his foot in the door of acting. Alec doubted he would keep up with it when he had first started, but Jace had proved him wrong so far. Isabelle on the other hand, didn't seem to really even _enjoy _modeling all that much. Her Chanel shoot had gone well, but Isabelle said she didn't really enjoy it. She was much more interested in the clothes she was wearing than the actual modeling. She said she didn't know what she wanted to do anymore, but Alec was pretty sure he knew what she would do.

Isabelle had been in love with clothes since she could differentiate colors. Their mother had signed her up for baby modeling, and that's kind of all she had ever done. She had always loved the fashion side of the modeling industry, and Alec was sure she would find a way to somehow be a part of it. Maybe now it was time for something new.

But the company wasn't the only thing he was worried about ruining. Maryse and Robert Lightwood had always had a certain way of running things in their household, a certain finesse to everything they touched. Alec knew having a gay son was not part of the plan.

And Jace… Jace would be furious. Jace would be disgusted… No, Alec couldn't even think about it. He was an athlete, and athletes weren't gay. It caused too much controversy, too much pain to the player. That's why most of them stayed in the closet until they were forced out of it by ass holes like Perez Hilton. There were some people, people like Neil Patrick Harris, who didn't care what the world thought of them, but that wasn't Alec. He couldn't stand when people talked about him at all, much less talking about how he was a disgusting excuse for a human being.

Alec's crude thoughts were interrupted by Isabelle running into him at full speed, nearly knocking him to the ground. Everyone in the hallway stared at them like they were raving lunatics. Alec turned an embarrassing shade of red and glared at Isabelle.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"You've been ignoring my texts, and I need to talk to you." She stated. Alec was shocked by the level of calm she was displaying after just tackling him like a rugby player.

Alec rolled his eyes. "What do you need?"

"You're friends with that girl Clary, right?"

Alec stared at her in confusion. "Yes…"

"Jace fancies her." Isabelle told him.

"_What?" _

"Can you make that happen?" she insisted. Alec could feel himself shaking his head back in forth in absolute shock.

"Jace has already burned that bridge. Clary loathes him." he said.

"Well he thinks he can make it work. I think he really likes her. He's being very persistent."

Clary sauntered over to them wearing a bright smile. "Did someone call for me?" she asked. Alec's eyes went wide and he turned to Isabelle for help. Isabelle shook her head and smiled at Clary.

"Not that I know of," Isabelle told her with a falsely sweet smile. "We need to get to English, don't we, Alec?"

"Um- I already-" Isabelle yanked him down the hall before he was able to finish his sentence, leaving an extremely confused Clary standing alone in the hall as the next class ball began to ring.

The rest the of day dragged on at an unbearably slow pace, causing Alec to consider knocking himself unconscious so he wouldn't have to finish out the day. Alec felt an immense amount of relief when the bell rang and it was his lunch hour. He met Clary and Simon outside the cafeteria, and instantly regretted it when he heard what the discussion was about today.

"It's all about which comic you look at, Clary." Simon was saying. "The DC comics have a different storyline than the Marvel comics."

"Then why would they make two movies about the same superhero?" Clary asked.

"Because Spider Man is too awesome to turn down. And because nobody likes Tobey Maguire." Simon responded. Alec choked back a laugh, not wanting to encourage them.

Simon turned to Alec with a determined look in his eyes. "Someday It'll happen, Lightwood."

Alec rolled his eyes, "Sure."

Simon had some kind of deep desire to make Alec laugh at his nerd jokes, and he wasn't giving up. A few days ago Simon had actually gone on a fifteen minute tirade about it. Simon just didn't understand that some people don't read comic books. Or watch a lot of superhero movies.

"Is there anyone sitting here?" a smooth voice asked form behind Alec. Clary's eyes widened but Simon spoke before she could protest.

"Nope, have a seat." he said with a smile.

Alec spun around and came face to face with Magnus Bane. _Shit._

Alec could barely hear Simon asking Magnus if he was new to the school, and some other ice breaking questions. He watched Magnus sit down, and smile at Simon kindly. At least he was pretending to care, whether he really did or not. Alec tried to register what Simon was telling Magnus, but he couldn't think through the fuzz that clouded his mind. What was Magnus doing here? And since when did he have lunch this hour?

Alec barely even registered the girl that came over and sat next to Magnus. She had long brown hair that was almost as long as Isabelle's, cascading down her back with a slight wave. She was very beautiful, but in a subtle sort of way. She was one of those girls that didn't need anything extra to look beautiful, she just _was. _He forced himself to concentrate, mentally slapping himself until he could think clearly. He vaguely recognized her from somewhere… soccer. She was the girl who had been with Magnus the other night at the game! Alec tried to plaster a happy look on his face but failed miserably. The girl seemed to pick up on his slowly collapsing facade, and smiled at him warmly.

"Hi, I'm Tessa." She told him, leaning behind Magnus so she could see him.

"Alec," he told her, forcing a smile onto his face.

"I know," she said, her smile still dancing delicately on her lips. Magnus's head snapped toward her quickly, and Alec could tell from the movement of his jaw that he was mouthing something to her, though he couldn't see his face. She raised her eyebrows and half smiled in return, the kind of smile that people had when they were trying not to say 'I told you so'.

Magnus turned back toward Simon, not missing a beat, and responded to whatever Simon had just told him. It probably pertained to Star Wars. Alec tried not to sigh at Simon's nerdiness.

He froze when Magnus leaned his knee against his thigh. He thought about jerking his leg away, but decided against it when he thought about the attention it would draw.

"Have you always had lunch this period?" Clary asked Magnus. "I've never seen you in here before."

"Yeah, me and Tessa always skip." Magnus responded, sharing a knowing smile with Tessa. Alec briefly wondered what they usually did during lunch.

"Oh cool," Clary said. Alec could tell she was trying her best to halt the awkwardness that he was obviously exuding, but he refused to look at her.

Magnus, no matter how much Alec hated to say it, fit into their little lunch group perfectly. Even Tessa, shy and reserved as she was, found a way to fit in. Alec felt a small pang of jealously at the way Tessa and Magnus got on. They obviously had a very close relationship. Alec could feel the love between them in everything they said. Even the way they looked at eachother screamed 'we love each other'. Alec used to feel like that with Isabelle, but recently it hadn't been the same. He rarely ever saw Isabelle now, and even when he did it was only for short amounts of time. He saw Jace more often these days, and that was really strange. Even though he and Jace had shared a room since freshman year, Jace was almost always out partying with his friends or something else that Alec didn't really want to do with him. Jace always invited him though; he was a good brother. Recently things had been changing a little, and now he knew why. It hadn't made since that Jace was staying at his room on the weekends, and Alec was grateful to finally know why.

Jace had never really fancied anyone enough to actually _try _to put effort into the relationship. He must really like Clary if he was recruiting Isabelle and Alec to help him win her. The thought made Alec smile. Jace had never had a serious girlfriend, and it was about time that he did. It would do him good. Alec's thoughts were interrupted by Magnus jostling his shoulder lightly.

"Are we?' Magnus asked.

"What?" Alec blinked at him in confusion.

"Are we still on for tonight?" Magnus pressed. Alec stared at him blankly, having absolutely no idea what he was talking about. "The project?"

"Oh! Yeah, sure." Alec stuttered, trying to ignore how close Magnus's face was to his own. Magnus smiled and got up to leave, pulling Tessa with him as they left. She smiled ruefully and waved at him while Magnus pulled her out of the cafeteria.

"Well that was weird," Clary stated.

"How?" Simon asked. "I thought he was perfectly nice."

"That's what was weird."

Alec remained silent, not wanting to spur the conversation on. Clary was right, Magnus _had_ been acting a little differently than usual. He hadn't made one joke about Alec dating or having sex with him, and that was out of character for Magnus. Alec was glad he hadn't, he just wondered why.

The rest of the day went by slowly, and once Alec finished history class, he was feeling a little nervous. He and Magnus had to turn in the assignment by tomorrow, and they were only about halfway done with it. Thankfully it was Friday, which meant there was no soccer practice today.

When Alec reached his room, the door was open again, but this time it wasn't Isabelle. Jace and Clary sat on his bed looking at each other with wide eyes.

"What's going on?" Alec asked them, using the calmest tone he could muster.

"Nothing," Jace said quickly. "We were just working on our project."

"In _my room?_"

"Well, my room can get overcrowded."

Alec stared at Clary, looking for a better explanation. Her face was a bright shade of red, and she was looking down at the floor guiltily. If Alec didn't know better, he would think they had been… No, there's no way. Clary didn't like Jace. She might even _hate him_, if Alec wasn't always trying to make him sound better. No, no there was no way.

"With two people?" Alec finally asked.

"Well, I came to see you, originally." Clary said quietly. "But you weren't here so Jace let me in."

"Alright," Alec said, giving up on finding out why they were acting so weird.

"I was just leaving anyway," Clary said to no one in particular. Alec thought he could sense a bit of hurt behind her words, but she was gone before he could ask about it properly.

Jace sighed and slid off the bed with a thump. He closed the door to Alec's room and turned round slowly, a sly smile lighting up his face. Alec sat down in his desk chair and stared at Jace. "What?"

"We weren't studying." Jace told him.

"I guessed as much," Alec said with a laugh. "What were you up to then?"

"I told her I fancy her. And I kissed her." The smile on Jace's face was growing with each word.

Alec felt his jaw drop and his eyes grew wide. "_What?"_

"I think she likes me!" Jace shouted victoriously.

"Wow," was all Alec could say. He had honestly not seen this one coming. He had really thought Clary hated Jace.

"I'm going to go and tell Isabelle!" Jace said as he raced out of the room. Alec stared after him in awe, wondering where the real Jace had gone. Jace collided with Magnus as he swung the door open and darted down the hall, barely muttering an apology.

"What's he so excited about?" Magnus asked, not bothering with a greeting.

"He's off to see Isabelle." Alec responded, his palms beginning to sweat the way they always did when Magnus was around. Magnus nodded and moved toward the bed and sat down, pulling his own laptop out of his bag. That was odd; Magnus never brought his laptop. Alec hadn't even known if he owned one or not. Alec didn't _really _know anything about him. Sure, they'd been working on this project for a few weeks now, but it wasn't like they had ever gone into detail about their lives. It was almost like they were both _trying _to keep the topic light.

"I wrote this last night," Magnus said, passing the laptop over to Alec. Alec moved hesitantly onto the bed so he could see the laptop better. There were ten pages written, completing the writing they had to do. After that, all they had to do was set up the slide show, which wouldn't take long.

"I know you're really busy with soccer," Magnus explained, "so I thought I'd just get it out of the way." The words rolled off his tongue in a slightly self conscious manner. Alec stared at him in confusion. Most people would have just gotten angry at him for being too busy to write it well, whereas Magnus had just written it for him.

"You didn't have to do that," Alec told him, scrolling through the finished, and quite well written, pages.

"Tessa helped me, don't worry about it."

Alec glanced at him in confusion. _Why Tessa?_

"She's a writer," Magnus offered as if he had read Alec's mind.

Alec felt his entire body flood with guilt and he could barely even look at Magnus. They had been working on this project for _weeks _and he had barely done anything. Magnus ought to be yelling at him for not getting his work done in time, not _doing it for him. _He tried to come up with an adequate apology, but was interrupted before he could manage it.

"Alec, stop it. It's fine. You don't need to apologize."

Alec looked at him dubiously as he pointed to the sidebar in the document.

"Come on, let's work on the power points."

Alec sat still for a moment staring at Magnus. "Thank you," he said after a moment. He tried not to get distracted by the beautiful eyes that stared back at him, but his efforts were fruitless. Magnus had the kind of face that you almost couldn't avoid staring at. He was beautiful in the most exquisite way possible. It was like he had been crafted personally by Aphrodite herself. Alec tried to to drag his thoughts back to the project. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his head, and looked back at Magnus, who was staring at him with an unfathomable expression. Magnus looked extremely conflicted, like he was fighting himself deep within his thoughts.

"Alec..."

Alec felt his heart skip a beat when Magnus said his name. _No, stop. You can't think like this, _Alec told himself adamantly. It was hard enough having to be around Magnus _without _feeling this way. Alec looked away from Magnus, trying to calm himself. He could hear Magnus's quiet breathing, feel his eyes boring into the back of his head. Knowing Magnus was only inches away from him didn't help either. His heart was beating furiously in his chest when he looked back at Magnus.

"What?" He said quietly.

Magnus hesitated for a moment, chewing on the inside of his cheek. The tension in the room was almost touchable. Magnus pulled his leg up so he was sitting crossed legged on the bed across from Alec.

"I just..." Magnus trailed off without finishing, a certain determination blazing behind his eyes.

Suddenly, he reached out to Alec, clasping the side of his face firmly but gently, and pulled him close. Their lips collided with surprising sweetness, shaking Alec to his core. His eyes flew open so wide he that wondered how they hadn't fallen out of their sockets. Magnus kissed him timidly, his mouth hardly moving at all. His hand moved carefully to Alec's hair, gripping it gently. Alec couldn't believe what was happening.

Magnus was kissing him and he was kissing him back.

_He was kissing Magnus back. _

Suddenly Alec's mind snapped back to reality and he jerked his head back. Magnus, with his hand still in Alec's hair, didn't let him move further than a few inches back.

"What are you doing?" Alec demanded. He could feel his face burning while Magnus stared at him in confusion.

"What?"

"You can't- I'm not-" Alec sputtered, unable to finish a sentence. His head was spinning faster than he knew was possible, thoughts hurling through his brain at a record speed. He tried to put together a coherent sentence but couldn't manage it.

"Not what? Gay?" Magnus responded forcefully, releasing him. "Judging from the amount of times I've caught you staring at my ass, you're either gay or curious. And from what I've heard, curious doesn't seem to fit."

"What you've heard?" Alec choked.

"Don't pretend you don't know people talk about you."

"They don't. They talk about Jace, or maybe Isabelle." Alec ran his hand through his hair nervously. What was Magnus saying? Were people starting to suspect the truth? Alec couldn't even imagine it.

"You're not as invisible as you'd like to think." Magnus told him. There was an edge to his voice that made Alec's stomach drop.

"It's not about that!" Alec shouted, his shaky voice giving away his fear.

"Then what?" Magnus asked.

"I can't do this- I won't."

"Don't pull that shit, Alec." Magnus said, pulling himself off the bed. "Being scared isn't the same as being incapable."

"You don't get it." Alec told him, searching for a way to explain what he was trying to say. When he thought about coming out publicly he felt like he was facing an army on his own. There was no chance it would go well.

_"I don't get it?"_ Magnus asked quietly. The expression on his face was absolutely killer.

Alec felt himself shrink away from Magnus without thinking. Magnus clenched his jaw and walked calmly out the door, slamming it behind himself in fury. The door and everything around it shook, as if it was trembling in response to Magnus's anger. Alec sat on the bed for a moment, his body completely still in shock wondering what he said that had upset Magnus so much.

There was too much at risk, too much pain in the cards to try it. Magnus was stunning and funny and mysterious... Everything about him made Alec want more. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't go there. There were too many people to let down, too many people that would hate him. Some people would accept him, or maybe not give a shit either way, but Alec couldn't make himself focus on them. All he could think about was the hate and disappointment he would be on the receiving end of. Even Magnus Bane, in all his glittery glory, wasn't worth all of that... was he?

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**So how did you all like it? PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you thought about this chapter. oh and don't forget to answer the questions I asked in the first A/N! Thanks! **


	5. See You On Monday

**Hey guys! Thank you to those of you who reviewed the last chapter! I am a little sad to say that was the least amount of reviews I've ever gotten, but I don't want to complain too much. I'm grateful that any of you read it at all, so thank you. **

**I've been thinking about it a lot, and it's getting a little stressful to try to update the way I've been doing it. I think I'm going to start updating on a schedule from now on. So… drum roll… you can expect to get a new chapter every FRIDAY. I hope that's okay, and I hope no one's mad that I might not be updating more than once a week now. I MIGHT still update twice a week, but it totally depends on how much free time I have. But for now, expect Friday. **

**This chapter is in Magnus's POV, so let me know if you think it's better or worse than the regular chapters. It's a lot harder for me to do Magnus's POV because he's such an insane character and I feel like I'm not doing him justice. So let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or places. **

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Magnus stormed down the hall angrily, plowing through any students in his path. He was too furious to care. How could Alec say he didn't get it? Did Alec think he just came out of the womb as _an openly gay baby? _God, that boy was so clueless sometimes. Any openly gay person had to have come out at some point. Magnus hadn't had a specifically lovely time coming out of the closet, not unlike most gay people he knew, and it was a little offensive that Alec assumed it had been fine. He was just being an idiot.

It wasn't like he hadn't been obvious about his feelings either. Magnus had been doing everything in his power to figure out if Alec was gay or not, and he was absolutely sure that he was. He was obviously still in the closet, but that didn't explain why he'd freaked out when Magnus had kissed him in the privacy of his own bedroom. He would have guessed Alec just didn't like him, but that thought was immediately thrown out of his mind when he remembered that Alec had kissed him back. The kiss hadn't been one sided, that was obvious.

Magnus stormed up the stairs of the girls dormitory and throwing the door open when he reached the room he was looking for.

"Magnus," Tessa said with a smile, "How did it go?"

Her smile fell when she noticed the expression on his face. She immediately went into bestfriend mode and her eyes narrowed as she approached him slowly. "What happened?"

"He freaked out and said he _couldn't do it." _

"What?"

"And then he told me that _I don't get it. _Can you believe that? God, the nerve." Magnus could feel himself rambling, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "You'd think he would be smart enough to realize that every gay person had to come out at some point. I didn't just launch myself into school one day with rainbows shooting out of my butt and a naked Adonis following me around. I mean honestly, I can't-"

"Magnus!" Tessa shouted, shaking his shoulders to get his attention. Magnus blink a few times and stared at her with wide eyes. "You need to calm down."

"You're right," He admitted, taking a deep breath while Tessa led him over her bed. She sat down against the wall and Magnus laid his head on her lap. "I just don't get why everything has to be so difficult. I've been flirting my ass of for the past few weeks and there is _no way _he hasn't been picking up on it. Then I kiss him and he acts like I'm insane!"

"Maybe he just wasn't ready for you yet." Tessa said thoughtfully. Magnus looked up at her, but she was staring out the window and didn't notice him. "Maybe he just needed a little push in the right direction."

"I thought that's what I was doing."

"Magnus, sometimes people don't understand what they're feeling. Sometimes you have to show them."

Magnus smiled at her warily. "And sometimes that sucks."

Tessa laughed and laced her fingers through Magnus's, looking down at him with a knowing expression. "Yeah, it does."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Magnus smiled when he realized he wasn't angry anymore. Tessa was always there for him at moments like this. She always knew exactly what to say to make him feel better again. Their friendship was more important to him than anything else in this world. There was no one he loved more than Tessa Gray. She was the only person he had left, and he didn't even mind it. Tessa and Magnus were connected in a way that was rare and very few other people would ever experience. They had both gone through an unbelievable amount of loss in their short lives, and it bonded them deeper than blood ever could.

Magnus didn't like to think about his past, and neither did Tessa. They had moved in together a few years ago when Magnus bought his house in Manhattan, and it was one of the best ideas they had ever had. There were nights, of course, where one of them would wake up screaming from their sleep. Those were the hard nights where they just held each other, knowing everything would be okay in the morning. And it always was.

They had both taken online school for a while, but eventually decided they needed to go to school. They had chosen Alicante together, and they made sure that their dorms were close to each others. They had agreed to go home every other weekend to make sure their relationship remained untouched by the prestige of the school, and this weekend would be their second trip back. Magnus was glad he would be able to get away from Alec, if only to clear his head.

"It's getting late, do you want to get going?" Tessa asked.

"Yes, the sooner we leave the better."

Tessa laughed and slipped out from under Magnus and into the bathroom, emerging with two small bags and smiling at him. "I got my stuff together ahead of time."

"Oh shit! I left my stuff in Alec's room." Magnus whined, throwing his head back in exasperation. "God dammit!"

"Well, let's go get it." Tessa said. Magnus rolled his eyes at her no-drama attitude. Tessa never put up with Magnus's melodramatic moods. It was probably for the better.

Magnus dragged himself toward the door dramatically, purposefully attempting to get a rise out of Tessa. She just laughed and shoved him out the door.

When they reached Alec's dorm Magnus hesitated. He turned to Tessa with worry etched into his features. "I don't know if this is a good idea." he told her. "I was really pissed when I left and it's late and-"

"It's only eleven, Magnus. Just go."

"Wait, you're not coming with me?" Magnus squeaked.

Tessa stared at him like he was the town fool and raised an eyebrow. "Of course not."

"Tessa!"

"Oh my God Magnus, _just go." _ she told him, shoving him down the hallway.

Magnus stared at Alec's door with uncertainty. He glanced back at Tessa pleadingly, only to find the hallway empty. Lovely.

He wanted so badly to rip the door open and kiss Alec until he couldn't think clearly, but he knew that wasn't necessarily the best course of action in his current situation. Magnus tried to think of all the different things he wanted to say to Alec, good and bad. He knew after they turned in the paper on Monday they'd have no reason to talk again, and he was sure Alec wouldn't talk to him again if they didn't work out whatever the hell was going on. He knocked on the door firmly, trying to chase away his thoughts with a strong plan of attack.

Clary opened the door and her jaw popped open in surprise. She turned toward Alec and mouthed something to him before stepping around Magnus and through the door.

"Oh hey Magnus, I was just leaving." she said, giving Magnus a meaningful look before slipping out the door. Magnus pushed the door open the rest of the way until he could see Alec. Everything he had planned on saying was lost to him as he stared into Alec's ocean blue eyes.

"Magnus?" Alec asked.

"Yeah… I left my stuff here earlier." Magnus told him, mentally slapping himself for how lame he sounded. But no, now was not the time to be witty or teasing.

"Oh," Alec responded. Magnus felt his stomach flutter at the disappointment in Alec's voice. Maybe there was hope after all.

"I'm going home for the weekend, so we'll have to finish the project on Sunday."

"Don't worry about it, I'll do the rest of it. It's the least I can do." Alec told him. God, this was awkward. Magnus tore through his brain, digging for something to say. He couldn't think of anything.

"I guess I'll see you on Monday then?" Alec asked after Magnus didn't answer. Magnus could see the something else behind his eyes, something that he wouldn't say without a little prodding.

Fuck it.

"Do you like me, Alec?"

"Yeah, of course." he responded quickly, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.

"You know what I mean."

Alec looked utterly torn. He was chewing on his lip ferociously, like he wanted to bite the whole thing off. His eyebrows were knit together tightly, while his eyes gave away what he truly wanted. He was scared, plain and simple. Magnus knew that. But he was obviously holding back. He wanted Magnus just as much as Magnus wanted him, that much was clear. The difference was that Alec was too afraid to say it. "You can't spend your life hiding from yourself, Alec. It'll only make you miserable."

"I don't know how to stop." Alec told him quietly.

Magnus walked toward the bed and sat down next to Alec. "Let me show you."

Alec hesitated, but not enough to make Magnus stop. He leaned forward, grabbing Alec's face with both hands, and pulled their mouths together. Alec tensed up for a moment, unsure whether or not to fight it, but eventually relaxed into him. Magnus smiled into Alec's mouth, and moved one hand to Alec's hair, the other tracing patterns on his forearm, which was still at his side. Slowly, Alec moved the hand Magnus wasn't touching up Magnus's side, his fingers fisting around the fabric of his shirt. Alec obviously didn't have much experience in the kissing department, but that didn't mean he wasn't putting everything he had into the kiss. Magnus parted Alec's lips carefully and slid his tongue along Alec's teeth, earning a startled gasp from the back of his throat. Magnus jumped when Alec's hand crept up the back of his shirt, but he recovered quickly, moving his lips to Alec's jaw. His trailed his lips slowly down Alec's neck, sucking lightly when he got to the sensitive spot under his ear. Magnus smirked when he felt Alec shiver beneath him. Magnus pressed his hands into Alec's chest, carefully pushing him down on the bed so that he was hovering over him. He curled his arms around Alec's shoulders, using his elbows to hold himself up while he began softly sucking at the tender skin on his neck, eliciting a quiet moan from Alec. Magnus smiled and pulled back a few inches, staring into Alec's eyes and silently asking, _how far are we taking this?_

Alec looked away, presumably to clear his head, and bit his lip nervously. _Hot damn, _Magnus thought, licking his lips. Magnus pulled Alec's mouth back on to his, kissing him with a new kind of urgency. He ran his tongue over Alec's bottom lip before drawing back with a smile. Alec's eyes were cloudy, staring at Magnus dazedly. Magnus pulled himself off of Alec, disentangling their limbs in the most graceful way he could. Magnus picked up his laptop from the floor and set it on his lap, looking at Alec with feigned innocence.

"So how old was Frank when he invented them? Eight?" he asked, referring to the project. Magnus knew perfectly well how old Frank was when he invented the popsicle, but at the moment he couldn't think of any better way to restrain himself. Alec was just too damn tempting.

"Eleven," Alec said automatically, blushing a deep scarlet color. Magnus was really starting to like the way Alec's face looked when he blushed. Alec pulled himself into a sitting position and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. His hair was messier than before, but it only served to make him look even hotter. Magnus jerked his thoughts forcefully back to the paper, not wanting to scare Alec any more than he already had.

While Alec looked through a couple different pictures for the slideshow, Magnus discreetly sent a text to Tessa.

**Don't wait for me. It'll be a while. **

A few seconds later he felt his phone buzz again. He glanced at Alec to make sure he wasn't paying attention before he clicked the message open.

**I figured ;)**

Magnus fought back a smile and decided not to text her back. He could see no reason to allow Tessa to gloat, although she _had _been right. Alec had just needed a little help sorting through his emotions, that's all. Magnus looked up from his phone and stared into Alec's slightly disoriented but focused eyes and had to hold back a sigh. He was so gorgeous.

Alec peeked at him from underneath his lashes, his cheeks flushing when he caught Magnus staring.

"What?" he asked, shifting his weight with discomfort under Magnus's gaze.

Magnus cocked an eyebrow at him mischievously. Before he could answer there was a knock on the door. Jesus, how many visitors did this boy _get _on a daily basis? Magnus rolled his eyes dramatically and walked toward the door.

"I locked myself out agai- Magnus?" Jace asked, too shocked to enter the room. "I thought you were mad at Alec."

"I got over it," Magnus replied, grinning at Jace's confused expression. Jace slipped past Magnus and walked straight into the bathroom, sparing a single look toward Alec. Magnus shut the door and sat back down on the bed. Alec was staring at the closed bathroom door with a look of utter terror in his eyes. Magnus wondered if he was trying to see through the walls.

"Is there a problem?" Magnus asked.

"He...I can't- he can't-"  
"I'm not going to tell him about our sexy make out, if _that's _what you're worried about." Magnus told him, staring at him seriously, attempting to gauge his reaction to the words. Did Alec want to keep the whole thing a secret from _everyone? _He was obviously still in the closet, but his family had to know… didn't they?

"That's… good." Alec said hesitantly. Magnus could practically taste the fear exuding from him. He didn't want to overstep his bounds, but he really wanted to know how public, if at all, this was going to be. Or if it was even going to be anything more than a one time thing. He stared into Alec's eyes, which were swimming with emotion, and sighed deeply. How was he supposed to think straight with Alec staring at him like that? Alec bit his lip absently while he waited for Magnus to respond, making Magnus lose every train of thought he had fought so hard to find. And yet, he didn't think Alec knew he was doing it. Alec was the kind of guy that just had to sit there and stare into space and it was hot. But he honestly didn't realize it, which was actually one of the reasons Magnus was drawn to him. Alec was gorgeous with his messy hair and vivid blue eyes, but he was very reserved. He always kept his head down, and Magnus had only heard him laugh on a few occasions. But he planned on changing that, if Alec let him.

Magnus really, really didn't want this to be a one time thing. He liked Alec. And after tonight, he finally knew for sure that Alec liked him too. Magnus would be willing, for now at least, to keep their little affair quiet, just between the two of them and, obviously, Tessa. There was no way in hell he wouldn't tell her.

But who Alec would be okay with telling was the bigger question. Or, with Magnus's current line of questioning, who even knew that he was gay in the first place. Alec's family was pretty famous at the moment with something produced by Lightwood Enterprises on the front page of every magazine, and Magnus understood why Alec wanted to stay silent about his sexuality. But that didn't mean he agreed with him. But he wouldn't push it at this current moment.

"Um, Alec?"

Alec stared at him with wide eyes, still thrown by Jace entering the room.

"Does he know?"

'Know what?" Alec asked.

"That you're gay," Magnus stated. Alec pulled his knees up to his chest, setting the laptop behind him, and bit his lip again. _Damn, he's _got _to stop doing that_, Magnus thought.

"No," Alec whispered. "No one except Isabelle. And apparently Clary, but that was an accident."

"_No one? _Not even your family?" Alec grimaced slightly and Magnus tried to backtrack. "I mean, you don't think they would think differently about you… do you?"

"I don't know about Jace or Max, but I know my parents would."

"Max?"

"My little brother. He's fifteen and a sophomore, so you probably wouldn't have seen him around. I've barely seen him since this semester started." Alec told him with a sad look in his eyes. Magnus guessed they were very close. "He's the most like me, out of all of us."

"Yeah, you and Jace don't really seem alike. You do look like Isabelle though."

"Jace is adopted, that's why he doesn't look like me or Isabelle." Alec told him. "His father was a close friend of my parents, so when he died, they took him in. I don't even remember ever _not _having him around, so it doesn't really feel like he's adopted."

Magnus nodded, unsure of what to say in response to Alec's confession. They hadn't really gone into depth about their lives before, so this was all new territory. Magnus wanted to get back to the question of why he wasn't telling Jace the truth, but he decided that was probably best left untouched. Alec didn't seem to want to talk about it, and Magnus didn't really feel like fighting with him about it.

"I know it's not a big deal for some people, but it is to me. I'm sorry." Alec told him, burying his head in his knees.

"You don't have to apologize, Alec. Contrary to popular belief, _I do get it_. We all had to come out at some point." Magnus told him.

Alec nodded but didn't say anything. Magnus grabbed the computer and scrolled through all the pictures Alec had chosen. Once he was satisfied with Alec's choices, he turned to him with a smile.

"So does this mean we're done?" he asked.

"Yeah, I don't think there's really anything we can improve on. I mean, the paper is about popsicles." Alec told him. Magnus laughed at the way he said _popsicle, _almost like it was a dirty word. He had still never gotten the pronunciation quite right.

Magnus grabbed his bag and slid his laptop into it, pulling himself off the bed. He didn't want to leave yet, but he knew Tessa would be aggravated if he took too much longer to get home.

"I'll see you on Monday, then?"

"Yeah," Alec said quietly, sliding off the side of the bed and walking Magnus to the door. He was just too cute.

Magnus opened the door only to have it pushed shut again. Alec was standing inches away from him, and Magnus could feel his warm breath on his face. He could see Alec's hand on the door in his peripheral vision, and he could feel his eyebrows raise. He hadn't expected Alec to be so bold.

Before he could think anything more, Alec's mouth crashed into his. Magnus smiled into the kiss as Alec pressed his body against the wall gently. Alec was only an inch or so shorter than Magnus, which rarely happened, so neither of them had to bend awkwardly or twist into uncomfortable positions. It just worked.

Magnus felt Alec's hand fist around the fabric of his shirt over his chest, pulling him as close as they could possibly get. Magnus dropped his bag and allowed his hands to roam along Alec's back, sliding them up his shirt. Alec's back was hard with muscle, presumably from soccer, and Magnus had to restrain himself from ripping off his shirt to get a proper look. Magnus pulled away, ending the kiss abruptly, and removed Alec's hand from the door.

"Monday," he said with a wink, grabbing his back from the floor and slipping out the door before Alec could say anything. He had been a little apprehensive about this school after the first few weeks, but it was definitely worth it.

Monday couldn't come fast enough.

* * *

**Okay, what do you guys think? Did you like it? Hate it? PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you think about this chapter! Love you all 3**


	6. Just Go

**Hey guys! Thank you for all the reviews I got on the last chapter! Like, YAY! For real, it makes me so happy when you guys review! **

**It's Friday, and that means it's time for a new chapter! I'm not sure how I feel about this 'once a week' chapter thing. I thought it would give me time to make the chapters longer, but it hasn't so far. I've been EXTREMELY busy this week with Christmas shopping and all that crap, so the chapter is pretty much the same length as usual. Sorry! **

**Oh and I have a BETA now! Fuck yes! I'm so excited about this guys, seriously, so excited! **

**Oh, and I should let you guys know that I'm going out of town the day after Christmas, and I'll be gone for like a week, with… get ready… NO INTERNET! I know, it's basically torture. I don't know if I'll make it out alive. But seriously, I don't think I'll be able to update that whole week, so… Just giving you all a heads up on that one. **

**Anyway, here's the new chapter, Enjoy! Beta'd by the lovely Mandirulez! *insert smiley face here***

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

* * *

Alec sprinted across the field with the ball, barely avoiding trampling a few of his teammates on his way to the goal. All he could see was the net; nothing else mattered at that moment.

That had been his attitude for the past two days. On Friday, after Magnus left, he had barely been able to think of anything but those lips on his own in the most pleasant of ways. He hadn't been able to sleep half the night because of it. Yesterday he had thrown himself into soccer, hoping to busy himself enough so he wouldn't think about it, and it had worked... to a point. He had practically driven himself into the ground with all the practice he'd been doing. It was harder yesterday because no one wanted to practice with him, they were all out partying, which was typical. This morning he had convinced most of the team to practice with him, although a lot of them were half-assing it. But considering the hangovers they were quietly enduring, Alec didn't really blame them. There were a few guys in the team who weren't really into the party scene, but unfortunately for Alec, they were the weaker players. Except for Brad. Brad went to the parties with everyone, but he wasn't really into coming home legless and not remembering a single thing he did. He said it ruined the fun of the party when you couldn't remember what you'd done. Alec didn't go to parties much anymore, and he wasn't a social butterfly like Jace. He had friends, and wasn't that people didn't _not _like him, they just didn't gravitate to him the way they did to Jace. He didn't mind though, he really didn't. Alec would much rather go unnoticed in the corner with his few friends than go out and act like a lunatic with people he hardly knew. Unfortunately, he knew both sides of the equation quite well.

Freshman year had been a really bad year for him. He had done lots of questionable things, including almost being expelled for getting caught with weed. This unfortunately went on for about eight months. Most of the people in his school had forgotten about it or just didn't really care, but he still got the occasional weird look when he said no to a party. Most people just chalked it up to a young kid experimenting with drugs and alcohol. One of those 'I'm going to look like such a bad ass in front of all these older kids' kind of things. If only they knew.

Alec had somewhat of a breakdown freshman year. He had been really unstable, maybe even depressed, while coming to terms with his sexuality. He had been trying to make himself forget, even temporarily, about everything. But it hadn't helped. Surprise, surprise.

The turning point was when Isabelle came to visit him, absolutely bugging out after he got caught with drugs in his room. She was crying and asked him why he was doing all of it; he, of course, told her it was nothing. Then one thing led to another and she ended up asking him if he was gay. At that point he was too upset, not to mention a little high, to lie to her. Ever since then they had been inseparable and he hasn't lied to her since, even about the small things. Isabelle was one of those people that, even in eighth grade, knew exactly who she was. She had barely changed at all, and Alec loved that about her. Isabelle was always there for him, no matter when he needed her and no matter what it was about.

Alec shook his head clear of everything besides soccer and pushed himself toward the net. He charged toward the goal with determination; he was getting this one in, he could feel it. Brad circled around and tried to cut him off, but Alec pivoted to the left and avoided him. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins like fire, awareness searing through every fiber of his body. Alec was faster than most of the team, so he was a few yards ahead of them while he made his way to the goal. He could almost feel the rest of them holding their breath while he readied himself to kick. The ball flew forward with immense force, powerfully shooting toward the goalie. Alec's leg didn't stop going forward after he kicked the ball and before he knew it he was doing backflip. He twisted himself in the air and landed on his feet, surprising everyone around, including himself. He looked up to see the ball fly past the goalie's hands and into the net, earning a cheer from the team.

Alec could barely focus on the congratulations from the team, his mind swirling with shock and confusion. He hadn't meant to do anything like what he had done. He didn't even know why he'd done it.

"Where the hell did you learn to do that?" Coach demanded, clapping him on the back with a smile.

"My mum put me in gymnastics when I was younger until I decided to start soccer." Alec said.

"Jesus, Lightwood. Keep that up and you'll be playing professional ball." Coach told him, his eyes wide and staring at Alec with a mixture of surprise and awe. Alec could feel the blood rushing to his face as he thanked Coach and walked toward the showers with the rest of the team. He grabbed his bag and darted out before anyone else could say anything to him- and before any of the team stripped- and headed back to his dorm as the sun began to set. Magnus would be back tomorrow and he couldn't stop himself from being a little excited. Alec knew it was too early to go to sleep, but he didn't really care. Once he reached his room he headed straight for the shower, too tired to try to do anything else. When he got out of the shower, he pulled on a pair of gym shorts and fell into his bed, not bothering to dry his hair. He could feel drops of water running down his face onto his pillow, but he couldn't bring himself do anything about it. His eyes began to droop and he let himself slip into unconsciousness.

* * *

Alec woke with a start, rubbing his eyes until he could see clearly. He sat up and slammed his fist into his alarm clock, thoroughly annoyed with the sound coming from it. Alec cringed when he heard a crack. That was the second alarm clock he'd broken this month.

Alec dragged himself out of bed and into the shower, exhaustion leaving him barely able to keep his eyes open. Alec felt a shiver of excitement run through his body when he remembered it was presentation day. Magnus was back.

Alec knew he shouldn't want to see Magnus as badly as he did, considering it had only been two days since he saw him last, but that didn't change how he felt. He had never asked for Magnus's phone number, even in these past few weeks while they worked on the project, so he had no way to contact him either. Alec tried to calm the nervous twists in his stomach but ultimately failed. All he could think about was the way Magnus had kissed him, as if nothing in the world mattered more than that kiss. Alec had never kissed anyone before Magnus, despite the intense amount of partying he had done freshman year. Most people, including Jace, just assumed he had had his share of sex and things like that, but in reality he hadn't done anything at all. Until Friday night, that is.

Alec pulled his uniform on and looked in the mirror to check his hair. It was a mess as usual. He did his best to try and tame it, but it was hopeless. Alec made his way to class with a little more bounce in his step than usual. He smiled to himself as he neared Professor Garroway's classroom, unable to get past the thought that Magnus would be there. Clary darted around the corner and toward the door, colliding forcefully with a surprised Alec.

"Woah, where's the fire?" He asked.

Clary's eyes grew until she looked like an anime character, a deep blush quickly creeping into her features. "What- nothing. There's no fire."

Alec raised an eyebrow at her as he took in her current state. Her hair was slightly tangled, giving the impression that she had just rolled out of bed, which didn't really make sense considering she was wearing makeup. And it looked like she put a little more effort into her makeup today than she usually did, which only confused Alec further. She stared at Alec with an intense amount of fear, looking like a child who had just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Um, ladies first?" Alec said, ushering her into the classroom. He would ask her what the hell was going on later.

Clary shuffled into the classroom quickly, her face redder than Alec had ever seen it, and made her way to her seat. Alec scanned the room for Magnus, but didn't see him. _Damn. _

Alec took his seat next to Clary, knowing he was scowling, but not really caring. Clary gave him an odd look, hurling him out of his dream world.

"Are you okay?" she asked, the blush from the hall still lingering on her cheeks. Alec nodded and tried to force the corners of his mouth into a smile which, from the expression on Clary's face, probably looked more like a grimace than a smile. Oh well, what was he supposed to do?

Professor Garroway started teaching and Alec felt suddenly grateful for the help Clary had given him. She really knew what she was doing in this class, and that was _amazing_ for Alec. Thankfully they had already gone through the majority of the material by the time Magnus showed up on Friday, so he knew enough to at least keep up now. Professor Garroway's lesson was long and unnecessarily specific, like usual, and Alec could barely hold back a shout of joy when the class bell rang.

The day dragged on, much like Professor Garroway's lesson, and Alec was very tired of it by the time lunch came. It probably didn't help that he was still sore from all the soccer he had played over the weekend either. But honestly, being sore was the last thing on his mind. He hadn't seen Magnus once today, which was odd. Magnus had all the same classes as Alec so it was really strange that he hadn't seen him yet.

Alec walked toward the cafeteria with Clary, knowing he was probably killing her mood but not really caring that much. Clary elbowed him in the ribcage and smiled timidly, making Alec roll his eyes but smile in return as they sat down. Simon joined them shortly after that.

"Alec, did you know your brother has been having secret makeout sessions with Clary?" Simon asked, a little spitefully.

"Um… no?" Alec said slowly.

"Oh my god, Simon!" Clary shouted, shoving her hands into his face in an attempt to shut him up.

"It's true. They even had one _today." _ Simon said, staring at Clary while he said it. Clary's face was an unnatural shade of pink as she hit his arm with a little more force than usual.

"That explains a lot," Alec said, thinking back to how frazzled Clary had been earlier in the morning. "But _why exactly _are you telling me this?"

"Because he's an asshole," Clary mumbled.

"I just thought you should know that one of your _best friends _is screwing around with your brother," Simon said, staring at Alec for a little too long before turning his eyes toward the rest of the lunch room. Alec felt a pang of sympathy for Simon. It was obvious he was in love with Clary, and had been for a really long time. It had to hurt to watch her find someone that wasn't him. Alec could see that pain in his eyes, the anger in his words, but he could tell Simon's heart wasn't in it. He was just hurt.

"We aren't _screwing around_! JESUS, Simon." Clary fumed.

Before Alec could say anything to calm the situation, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Mind if we join you?" a smooth voice asked from behind him. Clary shook her head and smiled as Magnus and Tessa took their seats. Magnus sat next to Alec again, while Tessa stepped around to the other side of the table and sat in between Clary and Simon. Alec tried to keep his composure, but found it extremely difficult with Magnus sitting only inches away from him. His thoughts flew back toward the kiss and he could feel his face heating up. He thought of the way Magnus had pushed him onto the bed, making their kiss even hotter than it already was and the way he had somehow found the courage to instigate another kiss at the door. He had impressed even himself with that one. He clenched his jaw, trying to fight off the smile that was sure to come, but couldn't fully stop it. Magnus was talking to Clary about something, but Alec was too absorbed in his memories to catch what it was. He squeezed his eyes tightly, forcing away the images so he could focus on reality.

"So how did that happen?" Clary asked, staring at Magnus with confusion. She glanced at Alec then quickly back to Magnus with concern. Alec stared at her for a moment, mirroring her confusion.

"Tessa and I have known each other since we were children, so it just came about naturally. We never really considered anything else." Magnus told her. Clary glanced at Alec again, and sensing that he had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, bit her lip for a moment before speaking again.

"So how long have you and Tessa lived together?" Clary asked, putting a weird emphasis on some of the words.

Magnus raised an eyebrow and stared at her like she'd grown an extra head. "Um, a few years. I bought the house when I was fifteen, so… I'm not sure. Sometime after that, I guess."

Alec stared at him in surprise. He _lived with Tessa? _And bought his own house? Where were their parents? Alec made a mental note to ask Magnus about this sometime when they were alone. Alec stared at Tessa, who was in an animated conversation with Simon at the moment, and wondered how they had met. They were definitely close, but Alec didn't really get a romantic vibe from them, like apparently Clary was getting. Alec rolled his eyes at the way she was trying to convey her concerns to him.

Alec felt a hand brush his thigh, dangerously close to his crotch, and nearly jumped out of his skin. His knee slammed against the table, shaking the entire thing and causing everyone to stare at him with confusion. Alec could feel his face heating up and stared at Magnus with wide eyes. Magnus's sly smile turned into a full blown grin as he started laughing loudly. Everyone either laughed or stared at him with wide eyes while his face burned with embarrassment.

"Sorry," he mumbled, glaring at Magnus.

Magnus winked at him and jumped back into his conversation with Clary with ease. Alec slowly stood up and stared at everyone around the table. He wasn't exactly sure why he was standing up or what he was planning on doing next, but he figured he would just wing it and see what would happen.

"Do you need to make an announcement or something?" Simon asked, one of his brows lifting into a perfect arc.

"Uh, no. I was just leaving." Alec said, slipping out from behind his seat and stepping away from the table. He wasn't sure exactly where he was going to go, considering there was still half an hour left for lunch, but he'd figure something out.

"Me too," Magnus added, getting up after Alec and giving him a discreet wink. Alec felt his face heat up again as he picked up his pace, nearly sprinting toward the door.

When they reached the hallway and were out of sight, Magnus grabbed Alec's forearm and pulled him into the closet nearest to them. Alec gasped but decided it was best not to fight him. Magnus slammed the door shut behind them and pulled the string light above them, staring into Alec's wide eyes with an unreadable expression.

"Um, what are we-" Alec started to say. Magnus slid his hand onto the back of Alec's neck and jerked Alec's mouth toward his with a gentle but forceful hand. Alec barely had time to form a coherent thought before Magnus slammed his lips into Alec's with unexpected force.

Alec froze, his eyes wide in shock while Magnus kissed him. They had only kissed a couple of times, and this was completely new territory for him. He tried to relax, but couldn't when he remembered they were in a supply closet. Magnus slid one hand down his back and jerked him closer, slamming their bodies together and holding them there with a strong arm. Alec felt Magnus's hand tracing small circles into his back, as if trying to sooth him. His lips moved down Alec's face to the corner of his jaw, sucking lightly on the skin. Alec felt himself shudder under Magnus's ministrations, blood rushing to his face in reaction to it. His legs felt like jelly beneath him, and he knew they would give out if this went on too much longer. Thankfully Magnus seemed to pick up on this and pulled his face away from Alec's with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"So when do you want to study again? Is tonight okay?"

Alec stared at him in confusion, wracking his brain for a reason they would be studying. "Um..."

"You are so oblivious, Lightwood." Magnus said with a smile, keeping his arm locked firmly around Alec's waist. Alec stared at him in complete confusion. How had he just switched gears so quickly?

"What-"

"Just go," Magnus told him, grinning like he'd just win the lottery. He released Alec and shoved him out the door with a wink and slamming it behind him. Alec's jaw dropped when he realized the halls were now filled with students, all rushing to their next classes. How long had they been in there?

Alec hurried to his next class, keeping his head down and hoping no one had seen him exit the janitors' closet.

Time flew by quickly and before he knew it, he was walking to his last class with Clary. She had been surprisingly quiet since lunch, but Alec was too focused on the presentation to think about it very hard. Clary took her usual seat near the door while Alec went to sit with Jace and Isabelle.

"What are you so smug about?" Isabelle said, staring at Jace quizzically.

"I've just been having a rather lovely day, that's all."

Alec rolled his eyes at Jace and tried to focus on Professor Seelie.

"Now I should hope you've all finished your assignments, since _it is _time to present, but just in case, I'll let the groups that have finished go first. If your project is finished, please raise your hand." Alec watched as hands flew up all around the classroom, leaving only a few unfinished assignments. "To those of you who _haven't finished, _you may be allowed to turn in your assignment tomorrow, _if_ I'm feeling generous." She said with a smile. "Alec and Magnus are up first, I believe."

Alec felt his palms begin to sweat and got up slowly, looking at Magnus with wide eyes. He hadn't expected them to have to go first, and from the look on Magnus's face, neither had he. Alec grabbed his laptop and brought it to the front of the class. After Professor Seelie helped them hook up the laptop to the projector, Alec swallowed his fear and turned toward the class. Magnus looked at him encouragingly, and gestured toward the class with a smile. Alec took one last deep breath and began speaking.

"Our project is about Ice Lollies," Alec said, biting his lip and looking at Magnus for help. His pulse was racing as he gave Magnus a pleading look. Magnus grinned and stepped in front of him, taking over the speaking position.

"The first _popsicle,_" he said, turning back to wink at Alec, who rolled his eyes in response, "was created by Frank Epperson when he was eleven…"

The presentation went well, and they received an A, despite the poor subject choice they had made. Apparently Professor Seelie was quite amused with Magnus's constant bashing of Frank Epperson's intelligence. Magnus had performed perfectly, and Alec was suddenly very grateful to have been paired with him.

He walked to soccer practice with a happy bounce in his step, relieved that he no longer had to worry about the project anymore. But there was one problem with that; what excuse could he use to spend time with Magnus now? He wasn't really sure what Magnus thought about whatever they had going on and that concerned him. Did Magnus think they were a couple now? Or did he just like making out with him…

Alec was torn away from his thoughts when Brad jogged up to him with a worried look on his face.

"Coach wants to talk to us before practice," Brad said. "Alone."

"About what?"

"I don't know… but he wants to see us in his _office." _Alec froze and stared at Brad in fear. Coach's office was a bad sign. He never talked to students in his office unless something bad was happening. The last time Coach had spoken with someone in his office, they had been kicked off the team. Brad's blue eyes were swimming with anxiety, and Alec knew that his probably looked the same.

They walked into Coach's office silently, neither one of them willing to jinx anything.

"There you are," Coach said once the boys had reached his office. "We've got some things to talk about."

* * *

**So how did you all like it? PLEASE REVIEW and let me know if you liked it or not. I don't want to sound like one of those annoying people who always begs for reviews, but they really do help. They inspire me to write faster, I swear! I literally freak out like a little girl when I read your reviews! And even the ones that are more constructive are great! I haven't ever received any flames… which I'm grateful for. Oh my god why am I even still typing hahaha. **

**Review! I love you all!**


	7. Good Morning

**Hey guys! Merry Christmas! I know I said I wouldn't be able to update for a while, but here I am anyway. I'm posting this now instead of Friday because otherwise you would have to wait TWO WEEKS.. So yeah, I'm updating a day early.**

**I'll be on vacation for a week with NO WIFI (unless I stop by a shop or something) so please send me some positive vibes. Its going to be hard. Lol! I really hope I'll come back to lots of reviews! *wink* And just remember there won't be an update tomorrow because I'm doing it today instead.**

** Also ff is being an ass hole and won't let me log in. I'm extremely frustrated about it.**

**Thank you for all your reviews oh my god they were so lovely! Spottedmask77 & Alisha, your reviews literally made me laugh and squeal and giggle so much thank you so much oh my god. NINETEEN REVIEWS SINCE THE LAST CHAPTER ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS I CAN'T EVEN DEAL WITH THAT OH MY GOD THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I literally can't even describe how giddy and... Just plain HAPPY I feel when I'm reading these reviews you guys. Like, seriously. *blushes* I love you all so much!**

**I know this next thing doesn't have to do with this story, so please don't get mad, but I have to tell someone. I officially have 10,000 views on my story When the Last Petal Falls. 10,000 views. I'm literally crying right now because I'm so happy and proud of myself. I love all of you so much. Thank you for reading.**

* * *

"You lads are aware that we have a game tomorrow." Coach said, making the sentence sound somehow like a question. Alec and Brad exchanged a curious look before Brad spoke.

"Yes..." he said, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He glanced at Alec again for help, who just shrugged, not knowing what to make of Coach's strange behavior.

"And you both know that you'll be starting the game."

Brad stared at Coach for a moment, his expression a mixture of confusion and irritation. Brad had never fully grasped the concept of the poker face, making his thoughts painfully obvious to both Alec and Coach. "We always do."

"But there aren't always college scouts in attendance, are there?" Coach asked. The sarcasm in his voice was enough to make Alec's jaw drop. Alec tried to let why Coach had just said sink in. There were going to be scouts at their next game. There were people coming to evaluate his and Brad's skill, which could possibly be a deciding factor in his future. Holy shit.

"They'll be at the game _tomorrow_?" Alec asked. He could hear the shock and awe in his own voice.

"Don't play dumb, Lightwood." Coach told him. "You know you're a great player. You had to know people would come looking eventually."

Alec's mind was running wild with the possibilities, unable to think of anything but the future. There would be a lot riding on this next game then. He looked at Brad, who seemed to be having the same kind of thoughts as him, and then back to Coach. He couldn't quite figure out what he should do with this information.

"That's awesome!" Brad shouted, slinging his arm over Alec's shoulder and squeezing him tight. "We're going to be playing together!"

"Unless you fuck up the game tomorrow," Coach reminded him. "Now get your asses back out to the field and practice."

* * *

Alec woke up the next morning to the sound of a light tapping on his door rather than his phone alarm, which he had to use now since he had broken his clock. The damn thing.

Alec dragged himself out of bed and trudged toward the door, not thinking about anything other than how tired he was. Isabelle always came to his room this early the first few weeks of school, but she hadn't been coming very much recently. He wasn't really sure what had caused it, but at the moment he was too tired to think about it.

He unlocked the door and and swung it open slowly, blinking in surprise when he saw a face that clearly didn't belong to Isabelle.

"Good morning," Magnus said with a smile. Magnus's hair was spiked up in it's usual way, while his makeup was a bit more toned down. There was a thick line of coal eyeliner tracing his yellow-green orbs, but the rest of his face appeared makeup free. It looked nice.

His eyes widened and he lifted one eyebrow as he took in Alec's current state. Alec glanced down to see that he was wearing one sock, gym shorts, and no shirt. And god knows what his hair looked like. Damn. Why did Magnus always come at the most inopportune times?

"Shit, sorry." he said, darting back into his room and pulling on the first shirt he could find. He breathed into his hand to check for morning breath, and was extremely disappointed to find that his was not the greatest smelling this morning. He absolutely hates talking to people in the morning with bad breath. He shoved a few mints in his mouth discreetly before ripping off his remaining sock; he didn't want to look stupid. He heard the door shut and whirled around to see Magnus standing a few feet from the doorway with a smile lighting up his face.

"I don't mind," Magnus said, winking at him suggestively. Alec felt his face heat up as he tried to chew the mints before Manus noticed that he had it. Magnus laughed as Alec spun around and fiddled with the socks in his drawer for longer than necessary. He swallowed the remaining mints quickly and turned to face Magnus with a shy smile.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. He tried to keep his tone light and carefree, but he was sure Magnus could see through him anyway.

"I thought this would be a good time to _study_," Magnus said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Oh. That's what he had meant yesterday when he said they needed to study.

Magnus closed the distance between them quickly, crushing their lips together with a smile on his face. Alec stumbled backwards in surprise while Magnus ran his hand up his neck, tangling it in the knots of his hair. He was suddenly very thankful for the mints. Alec couldn't think straight when Magnus kissed, and he especially couldn't think straight with Magnus's hands roaming around his body. He felt a warm hand slip up the front of his shirt and tensed up a little. It wasn't that he minded it, it was just unknown territory for him. And unknown was uncomfortable. For now.

Magnus's hands traced the patterns of muscle on Alec's abdomen for a moment longer before he moved them back to Alec's face, letting Alec relax into his touch once again. Alec moved his hand from Magnus's shoulders and trailed his fingers lightly down his back until they were hovering over the waistband of his jeans. He brought his hands back up quickly before his thoughts could travel too far down that line. His attempts to calm down were quickly thwarted when Magnus gently pulled him down onto the bed. Magnus shifted his body so that he was hovering over Alec and began placing blazing kisses down his neck. Alec ran his hands along Magnus's back, not really sure where else he was supposed to put them; he was pretty new to this. His stomach fluttered with nervous excitement while Magnus kissed him. They hadn't really made out laying down before. They had kissed, briefly, but they hadn't really gone very far with it. Alec felt Magnus's hand creeping along the outside of his thigh and felt his his insides turn to knots. He didn't want to say anything, but he was really nervous. He knew nothing would really happen because 1, Jace was in the room right next to them, and 2, they didn't have nearly enough time, but that knowledge didn't calm his frazzled brain. Magnus removed his lips from Alec's neck and placed a chaste peck on his lips before pulling them both into upright positions and smiling at him again.

"Do you want to come to my house on Saturday?" Magnus asked.

"Your house?" Alec asked, his thoughts still muddled from Magnus's kisses. The possibility of going to Magnus's house made his head spin. What would they do? Who would be there? Was it a date? Alec blinked a few times to clear his head and looked at Magnus, who was still smiling.

"You know, the place where I live." Magnus teased. "It'll be fun. And Tessa won't be there this weekend, so it'll just be us." Magnus clarified, easing doubts that Alec hadn't even had time to form.

"That sounds good," Alec said, blushing fiercely despite the smile that graced his face. Magnus smiled at him and stood to his feet, pulling Alec up behind. Alec glanced at his clock, groaning when he remembered that he'd broken it, and grabbed his phone off his dresser. 7:35. He sighed and decided it was time to shower and get ready for school. He glanced at Magnus nervously, unable to decide whether or not he should tell him to leave. He decided against it. It wasn't like Magnus had to shower with him.

He opened his bathroom door and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw Jace standing a few inches away from him. "JESUS!" he shouted, clutching his heart to make sure it was still beating.

Jace raised an eyebrow and peeked over Alec's shoulder before looking back at Alec in confusion. "Why is Magnus in your room?"

Alec felt his heart really stop as he scrambled through his brain in search of a decent excuse. It was hard to think coherently with Jace standing there looking at him like he knew a secret. But he couldn't know. There was no possible way that he knew about Alec and Magnus… was there?

"I left some stuff in his room on Friday," Magnus said, saving Alec from any further embarrassment. "I asked him to get it a few days ago but he just never got around to it."

Alec spun around and looked at Magnus with confusion, though he was relieved that he didn't have to come up with anything, and Magnus winked at him. Alec wasn't sure at that point if his face could get any redder, but Magnus was clearly trying. Alec turned back to Jace, who shrugged as if to say 'I don't really care' and turned back toward the sink grabbed his toothbrush.

"I'll see you later, Alec," Magnus called out from the doorway. Alec faintly heard the door shut, but couldn't bring himself to look at Magnus. He couldn't give Jace any resins to be suspicious, he just couldn't. Jace didn't say anything else the rest of the morning while Alec showered and got ready to go to class. It was a little unsettling, to say the least. Once he reached his first class, he sat down in his usual seat only to be assaulted by Clary.

"Oh my god, Alec!" She whispered, even though they were both early and there was no one else in the classroom.

"What?"

"What's going on with you and Magnus?" She asked. Alec felt his stomach drop and stared at her in utter disbelief. He hadn't told her anything about what was going on with himself and Magnus. Clary raised both of her eyebrows at him expectantly. He knew heshould be telling her all about it, squealing with joy the whole time. Unfortunately, his instincts for the best of him.

"Why would you think something's going on?" He demanded, a little too harshly. He made a face at her in attempt to show her that he hadn't meant to be so snappy.

"I'm not blind," she responded just as snarkily. Alec's face went pale and Clary's eyes went wide at what she'd just insinuated. "It's not obvious to everyone," she amended. "It's only obvious to me because I know you're gay."

Alec's eyes shot toward the door when she said the word 'gay', and for a moment he could swear he saw someone back away from the door. No, you're just paranoid, he thought. Clary nudged his shoulder, trying to bring him back to reality.

"So... what's going on? Last Friday when we were studying, he came to your room to 'get stuff'. I figured something was going on but you never said anything about it so I just figured I was imagining things. But now I'm not so sure."

Alec sighed dramatically. "I don't know."

"But there is something to know?" Clary pressed.

"Clary," Alec said, thoroughly exasperated with the direction this conversation was going. He usually only talked about this kind of thing with Isabelle, which still wasn't often, and it felt wrong to talk about it to someone else. Maybe that was just because it felt wrong to have someone else besides Isabelle know he even had these kinds of feelings; he didn't know. Clary rolled her eyes and started to say something else, but stopped mid sentence when a few students trickled into the room.

"We're going to talk about this later," she warned him, smiling and turning toward the door just in time to see a tall, sparkly student make his way into the class. Alec smiled to himself as Magnus locked eyes with him, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, as if he was holding back a smile himself. He took his seat behind Alec with grace, winking discreetly before he began arranging the items on his desk. Alec felt his face flush a deep scarlet and glanced back at Clary, groaning quietly at the knowing expression on her face.

"It's not-"

"Later," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

The rest of the class passed without a hitch, and Alec all but sprinted out the door when the bell rang. The day passed progressively slower than yesterday, and Alec was itching to get out on the field by the time lunch came. Magnus and Tessa joined them for lunch again, surprising Alec just as much as they had the first time. He felt like he should be expecting it at this point, but some part of his mind still questioned why Magnus wanted to be around him. He hadn't really done anything especially unique as to earn Magnus's affection, much to his dismay. Magnus was a light, everywhere he went. He lit up the room, magnifying every spectrum of Alec's being until he couldn't think straight. And that wasn't even counting his major kissing skills...

"You have a game tonight, don't you, Alec?" Tessa asked, interrupting his gloomy thoughts.

Alec blinked in surprise, his brain sparking back to life and jolting him back into reality. "What?"

"Don't you have a game tonight?" she asked again, smiling at how oblivious he was.

"Yes," Alec said, his cheeks going a little pink when he noticed all the eyes at the table were trained on him.

"Is it true about the scouts?" Tessa asked. Alec's brows furrowed in confusion, wondering how the hell she knew about that. Everyone in the table seemed to know about it, actually. Clary's eyes were wide with curiosity, and not only because of the question about the scouts. Her eyes were constantly shifting between Magnus and Alec, smiling slightly whenever Magnus bumped him or even just nudged him lightly. It was honestly getting hard to look at her without groaning. She was being so obvious.

"If you're referring to if they will be at the game today, then yes." Alec said, earning smiles and congratulations from everyone around the table. Alec felt his face heat up for the billionth time today, and put his head down. He knew that even if he wasn't looking at them they could still see him, but that didn't stop him from hoping.

Magnus's hand slipped under the table and squeezed Alec's thigh gently and it took everything Alec had in him not to jump this time. Alec couldn't hear what anyone was saying; all he could think about was Magnus's hand on his leg. He took a deep breath and tried to relax, but the anxiety that someone would notice was slowly taking over his mind. He glanced nervously around the table, and then around the room, but didn't see anyone looking their direction. That put him a little at ease; but only a little.

Simon was going on another Star Wars tirade, and Alec couldn't help but roll his eyes. Tessa caught it and laughed quietly, offering a kind smile in his direction. Alec couldn't help but wonder what Tessa was like outside of school. He knew she and Magnus were close, so that made him sure she was the kind of person he would get along with, but he still wondered. The lunch bell rang, saving them from Simon's spiel, and they all went their separate ways toward their classes.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and by the time three o'clock rolled around, Alec was itching to get on the field. Unfortunately, the game had been pushed back a week due to the opposing team all seeming to contract the flu at the same time.

Alec didn't want to admit it, but he was sulking. He had practiced on the field with some of the team, despite the game being canceled, and all of them were as frustrated as he was about it, which only caused his mood to worsen. When he came back to his room he looked at the clock. 5:00 pm. Damn. Alec showered quickly and decided to go to Isabelle's room for a while. He rounded the corner and ran straight into an unsuspecting boy.

"Oh, shit! Sorry!" he said, stopping to make sure he didn't hurt him. A pair of golden-green eyes flashed up at his with a sly smile.

"Alec," he purred. "Just the man I was looking for." Alec felt his face turn pink. "Are you headed somewhere specific?"

"No. I don't have anything to do now that the game has been postponed so I was going to isabelle's room to see what she was up to."

"Perfect! Why don't you just come to mine instead?" Magnus said with a smile. There was a glint in his eyes that Alec couldn't quite decipher, but he nodded anyway.

"Lead the way," he said, trying his best to sound confident. He was a little scared as to what they would do in Magnus's room, and who would be there, but he decided to save those questions for when they got there. They would probably answer themselves anyway.

Magnus grinned and spun around, practically dancing down the hall. Laughter bubbled from Alec's throat when Magnus tripped against the doorway and nearly face planted, earning a glare from Magnus.

When they reached Magnus's room Alec felt a wave of nervous excitement course through his veins. He wondered if Magnus had a roomate or if he was one of the lucky kids who had a single room. Alec had originally hoped for a single room the first year he was here, but he was now grateful he had Jace. Magnus unlocked the door with a smile and gestured toward the door, Indictating that he wanted Alec to go first. Alec smiled at him shyly and blushed a deep scarlet color as he stepped through the threshold.

* * *

**Okay how did you all like it? I know, not a lot happened. But I swear the drama will come a little later. Trust me. Also, the next chapter should be interesting *wink* hehe**

**Anyway, PLEASE read and review for me guys! I need feedback to make the chapters better. I love you all! Thanks!**


	8. Madonna?

**HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!**

**Hey guys! Thank you for your reviews! They made me so happy oh my god. And I'm getting really excited! I think I might get to 100 reviews by chapter ten! AHHHHH! That would mean so much to me oh my god! **

**In response to some of the reviews…**

**Molly Cornell: Thank you so much for saying I'm funny! Oh my god! I always worry that I suck at comedy! **

**Guest: I 'effing love you' too! haha! *imagine there's a heart here***

**Different Guest: And OH MY GOD yes, I will totally marry you! *insert winky face* I'm a girl btw. But since you don't care… *insert a second winky face* hehe!**

**Anyway, sorry! I just had to respond to some of those, they were SO funny! And nice! I would just like to say that I love you all, and it means so much that you're still reading. I thought during the holidays I would have MORE time to write, but it turns out I was pretty fucking busy lol! To a bad point! I hope you all had a great holiday.**

**I would like to dedicate this chapter to the lovely _bv97sorafanfic. _I absolutely love him and he's such a sweetheart. Also his advice on this story is absolutely killer! **

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Also, I am TOTALLY open to advice for this story. Let me know in the reviews what you think should happen. I have a basic plotline, but there's PLENTY of room for changes without messing anything up. Let me know! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these beautiful characters. I could never come up with such magnificence. They all belong to the fabulous Cassandra Clare. I just play with them *wink***

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Alec walked hesitantly into the room, nerves wracking through him as he took everything in. The walls weren't nearly as plain as his own room- which he should have expected, knowing Magnus- and the furniture was all electric blue. The walls were covered top to bottom with posters, obviously trying to deviate as far as possible from the 'no painting the walls' rule, making the room feel completely different from any other dorm room Alec had been in. The bed frame was wooden with a yellow canary bedspread draped over it. The room was a little cluttered and a little messy, giving the room a very 'lived-in' kind of feel, which made Alec smile despite his churning stomach. One thing that really bothered Alec about this school was how every room looked the same. It almost felt like staying at a hotel, rather than a permanent housing situation. Magnus apparently felt the same way. From what Alec could tell, Magnus had completely remodeled the room without breaking any rules, which was a miracle that deserved to be applauded. Isabelle tried and failed every year. She would love to see this, Alec thought.

Magnus walked toward his bed with a smile, falling backwards onto it and sighing in content. Alec remained a few feet from the door, unsure of what to do until Magnus gestured to a black beanbag on the floor, inviting him to sit.

"So I hear the Wayndale kids have food poisoning," Magnus said casually, a smile lighting up his features delicately. Alec sat in the beanbag, squirming when he sank into it. Alec had never liked beanbags; especially not huge ones that made you sink all the way to the floor, practically burying you alive. But nevertheless, he sat in it anyway.

"You heard right. We had to cancel the game because of it."

"Damn."

"Yeah," Alec sighed. "Coach said he didn't know if the scouts would be able to come again."

Magnus sat up and turned toward him, his eyes wide as he stared at Alec in shock. "What? Why can't they just reschedule?"

"I'm not sure. I guess they have other obligations."

"That's bullshit!" Magnus said, throwing his hands into the air. "It's not your team's fault that the stupid Wayndale kids ate some old prunes and couldn't play."

Alec laughed loudly and let his head fall into the back of the beanbag. He looked up just in time to see Magnus break into a smile, seeming oddly pleased with himself.

"They probably would have played badly whether they were ill or not," Alec said with a chuckle. Wayndale had never done well at soccer, or any sport for that matter. There had been quite a few incidents of vandalism, most likely due to jealousy, on the Alicante grounds and now whenever the Wayndale kids came for a game, all students were forbidden to go to each other's cheering stands. It was ridiculous, really, that people acted so obnoxiously. Alec had witnessed a few fights between some of his teammates and the opposing team, but he always avoided getting involved. He didn't like trouble.

"Especially against you and Brad," Magnus said, his voice coming out a bit strained. His mouth was pressed in a tight line, twitching in tune with his clenching jaw and making him look like he was holding something back.

Alec looked up at him curiously, trying to decipher the odd tone in his voice. "You know Brad?"

"Not personally. He's a friend of a friend."

"Oh." Alec lowered his gaze to the floor, unsure what it was about Brad that so obviously put Magnus on edge. Brad had never mentioned Magnus in all the time that Alec had known him, so they couldn't be _that_ close... Then again, Magnus had said 'friend of a friend' so they probably didn't even know each other. Not _really_. Which of course just confused Alec further.

"Are you two close?" Magnus asked suddenly. He leaned back on his hands casually, staring at Alec with a look that was _anything but_ casual. Alec shifted uncomfortably under Magnus's scrutiny, looking anywhere but directly at him.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Huh," Magnus responded curtly, knitting his eyebrows together in thought. His eyes were squinted and his lips pursed, staring at Alec with an incomprehensible expression.

"I mean, it's not like we're _BFFs_ or anything like that. I just know him from soccer." Alec said, smiling a little in attempt to change the negative mood of the room. Magnus's expression didn't budge, and Alec was starting to wonder if he was actually angry, rather than just on edge about Brad.

"What?"

Magnus raised an eyebrow instead of answering, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Do you really not know about Brad?"

"What are you talking about?" Alec said quietly, pulling himself up from the beanbag and sliding to the floor, tired of sinking into the damn thing. "What about him?"

"Um..." Magnus trailed off, speechless for the first time probably in his life. Alec felt his stomach tighten, the tension from the conversation making him almost dizzy.

"I thought you knew, to be honest." Magnus said. "Brad likes you, and apparently has for a long time. I'm surprised you haven't noticed by now."

Alec felt like his rib cage was collapsing into his chest with every word that spilled from Magnus's lips. There was no way that Magnus could know this. There was just no way. He had said it himself,_Brad was a friend of a friend_. Magnus didn't really even know him. But even so... Suddenly a lot of odd things were clicking into place, finally making sense to him. All the times that Brad had stayed after practice to work with him when no one else had even offered, the times Brad had gone out of his way to sit by him when the team went out for pizza after a game, it was all beginning to make sense. Maybe Brad wasn't the sensitive guy Alec thought he was. Maybe he was just trying to show Alec that he liked him.

Alec stared at Magnus for a moment, his jaw slack and his mouth hanging slightly ajar, his eyes wide. "How do you know?"

"I heard it through the grapevine," Magnus said with a hint of amusement. "He's quite infatuated from the sound of it."

"I didn't even know he was gay," Alec whispered. Brad had never showed any obvious signs of his sexuality, despite the dots Alec was connecting of his flirtatious behavior. It made sense, but it also didn't.

"I'm not surprised. You're usually pretty oblivious to those kinds of things," Magnus said with a wink.

"I am not!" Alec protested, his face heating up. Damn that blush.

Magnus laughed in response and twisted around to grab his laptop from the floor behind him, leaning forward on his knees when he couldn't reach it and giving Alec a magnificent view of his ass. His first instinct was to look away, by he couldn't quite tear his eyes from it. When Magnus turned around he was wearing an unusually innocent expression.

"You like what you see?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Alec's face was flaming red. Magnus laughed and waved his hand dismissively, patting the bed next to him and smiling slightly, inviting Alec to join him on the bed, which he did.

"What is that?" Alec asked, referring to the pictures Magnus was showing him. It seemed to be a crowd- no, a packed arena full of screaming fans. The picture was extremely dim, and Alec couldn't make out what was happening.

"It's the Britney Spears concert I went to last year with Tessa. Personally I think she's just a wannabe Madonna. No, that's not what I mean," he chided himself. "She's more like the Princess of pop, whereas Madonna is the queen."

Alec stared at him blankly, trying desperately to scour his mind for any memory of a woman named 'Madonna'. He had nothing.

"Madonna?" Magnus asked, his eyes wide in incredulity. "You don't know Madonna?"

"Does she live nearby?"

"Um, not specifically. She kind of lives everywhere."

"What does that even mean?"

"She's the most famous pop star on the planet, Alec. Besides Michael Jackson, maybe."

Alec stared at him for a moment, realization setting into his mind. No wonder Magnus had been all but laughing at him while he explained who this 'Madonna' was. Alec felt his cheeks heat up as he thought that maybe his aversion to pop music, even pop culture in general, may be a problem with Magnus. He was obviously into this stuff, and Alec knew nothing about it.

Alec peeked out from under his lashes, glancing at Magnus nervously, and was relieved to see him smiling at the computer screen, probably reminiscing about the concert.

"I can't even fathom that you don't know who she is," he said, crushing Alec's hope in one sentence. He looked at Alec with amusement playing in his eyes and smiled. "Although, it's not a total loss. Now I can just force you to listen to all her albums with me." He winked at Alec, whose pulse was finally slowing down again, and went back to looking through all of his concert photos.

"What makes you think I'll go along with that?"

Magnus turned toward him with a sly smile and grinned. Before Alec could grasp what was happening, Magnus slid the laptop onto the floor and leaned toward Alec, so close that their foreheads were slightly grazing. Magnus stared into his eyes calmly, apparently unaware of Alec's sweating palms and abnormally quick heartbeat. "I think I could convince you." he whispered. Alec's breath caught in his throat as Magnus slowly pressed his lips to the corner of his mouth, teasing him. His hand ran slowly up Alec's side and down onto his stomach, pausing to let his fingers dance over the sensitive skin.

Alec flinched back involuntarily when Magnus's fingers ran over a low section of his stomach, almost on his side, and a small gasp bubbled from his lips.

Magnus leaned back and stared at him with an evil glint in his eyes. "Are you _ticklish_?"

"No! I was just surprised," Alec said quickly, his face turning a deep scarlet. Magnus stared at him for a moment, a smile slowly growing on his face, and started crawling toward him menacingly. Alec felt his chest tighten in what he could only imagine was fear, and backed away slowly, falling off the edge of the bed back onto the floor.

"Magnus," Alec pleaded, "Please don't."

Magnus promptly ignored his pleas and jumped on top of him, pressing his back to the floor. Magnus's legs were straddling Alec's hips in a way that made him blush even more, somehow, but that didn't stop Magnus. His hands slipped under Alec's shirt, and brushed that spot on his stomach again, earning a muffled giggle.

_"Stop it!" _Alec all but shouted while he wrestled with Magnus on the floor. Alec managed to roll Magnus over to his side so he could push himself out from under him, but Magnus just tightened the grip his knees had on Alec's hips and held on. Magnus squeezed Alec's thigh gently, and took advantage of the way Alec froze in shock, swinging himself back on top of Alec and pinning his arms to the ground beside his head.

"How do you feel about Madonna now?"

Alec allowed all his muscles to go slack and tried to fight the smile off his face but failed miserably. "I think it would be in my best interest to give her a shot."

"Good answer," Magnus said, leaning close to his face once again. This time there was no game.

Magnus kissed him softly, his mouth moving slowly and gently. Alec's head was spinning from the sensation, and he couldn't imagine anything better than kissing Magnus. Alec felt Magnus's lips expertly part his and his tongue slid into his mouth. All Alec could feel was Magnus; all he could think was Magnus. Magnus was everywhere at once, running his hands all over Alec's body in the most pleasant of ways. Alec felt Magnus hum into the kiss and squeezed his eyes shut. Magnus slipped his hands behind Alec's shoulders and pulled him into an upright position, and between his legs, and began kissing him again. The longer they kissed, the more power built behind it. Alec knew they weren't about to simmer down, and he didn't care. Magnus carefully pulled him up toward the bed and climbed on top of him, never breaking the contact of their lips. Alec fell onto the bed and ran his hands down Magnus's chest, exploring his body in a way he hadn't previously had the courage to.

Alec felt his heart skip a beat when Magnus's thumb slid beneath the waistband of his pants. Magnus must have felt Alec tense, because his hand stilled and rested there, only making Alec more nervous.

"Is this okay?" Magnus asked, pulling back and looking into Alec's eyes seriously.

Alec didn't think he could form any coherent words in his current frame of mind, so he just nodded and smiled at Magnus a little, trying to comfort him. He felt a bead of sweat beginning to form above his brow and took a deep, shaky breath.

"Alec…" Magnus started. A knock came from the door and Alec's head snapped toward it, sobering his thoughts.

"Do you have a roommate?" Alec asked, looking around the room frantically. There was only one bed, so he doubted it... but still.

Magnus shook his head and extricated himself from Alec, untangling their limbs gracefully, the way he did everything.

"Tessa?" he asked once he opened the door. Alec could barely see Tessa over Magnus's tall frame.

"And Will," Tessa responded brightly. She pushed past Magnus and walked straight toward his closet, not acknowledging Alec, who was slowly turning a brighter shade of red as each second passed.

Tessa's long brown hair was pulled back into a loose braid, a few pieces falling carelessly into her face. She looked flustered, and mildly upset. That was not a look Alec was used to seeing on Tessa.

"Hi, I'm Will," said the boy with her. He had dark black hair and very sharp, angular cheekbones. His eyes were a piercing blue, similar to Alec's own eyes. Alec couldn't help the pang of jealousy that struck him.

"Alec," he said, quickly jumping off the bed and shaking the boy- Will's hand. Will smiled politely and turned to Magnus, whispering something Alec couldn't hear. A slow grin spread across Magnus's face and he nodded, motioning Will to follow Tessa into the closet.

Alec couldn't bring himself to say anything to Magnus, or even think clearly enough to attempt it. He looked up at Magnus, who smiled and beckoned him closer with his fingers. Alec complied, but was shocked when Magnus grabbed his face and began kissing him again. He let it happen for a moment, a sweet, blissful moment, but then snapped back to his senses when he heard Tessa laugh from the closet.

He pulled away quickly, his face turning red again, and backed away from Magnus.

"What?" Magnus asked. Alec might have been wrong, but he thought he heard a bit of hurt in his voice. "They can't see us from the closet, Alec."

"Magnus, please."

"Oh, come on! It's not like Tessa doesn't already know about us anyway. And I doubt Will would care."

Alec's mouth popped open in surprise. He could see the instant regret on Magnus's face, but he couldn't bring himself to think of anything besides the fact that Tessa knew.

"Hey, Tessa's fine. Okay?" Magnus said, trying to reassure him. "She's my best friend, and she won't say anything if I don't want her to."

"Meaning if I don't want her to?" Alec said flatly. "Because I'm the one that's being such a drag."

Magnus grimaced and Alec instantly regretted his words. "Don't act like you haven't told anyone, Alec. Or are you forgetting Clary? Isabelle, maybe?

"That's not fair. She's my sister. And Clary found out on her own."

"About you being gay. Not about _us."_

Alec bit his lip anxiously, knowing he was right. He had talked to Clary about Magnus. Multiple times, actually. Isabelle was no help, so he didn't like talking to her about it, but she still knew.

"Okay, I'm sorry. But I still don't want to… _do that_ while they're in there." he said. Magnus rolled his eyes and smiled, much to Alec's relief, pulling him closer once again.

"Fine. But you're going to have to make up for it." he whispered. Alec shuddered at the implications in his voice. Magnus pulled away just in time to see Tessa and Will walk out of the closet, looking flustered themselves, smiling and holding a few garments in their hands.

"Will refuses to wear any of it, but I did find my clothes." Tessa said. Her eyes widened when she saw Alec. "Alec? Have you been here the whole time?"

"Yes," Magnus answered for him. "But he was just leaving. One moment."

Alec stared at him in confusion only to be ignored until Magnus grabbed his arm and hauled him out the door, shutting it quietly behind them.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said with a wink, glancing down both sides of the hallway before planting a kiss on Alec's unsuspecting lips. Alec closed his eyes only to have Magnus pull away, ending the kiss abruptly. "Text me." Magnus slammed the door behind him, leaving a flustered Alec standing alone in the hallway.

When Alec reached his room, he threw himself onto the bed and smiled to himself. He pulled out his phone to text Magnus, only to see that Magnus had already texted him.

**Sorry I had to kick you out so soon. Tessa has a thing. We'll be out of school for the next few days. **

_Okay. That's fine. Are we still on for Saturday? Or will you still be busy?_

Alec stared at his phone, nervously waiting for a reply from Magnus. The minutes ticked by and eventually he gave up. Which, of course, was when his phone went off again.

**Wouldn't miss it *wink***

Alec let the phone fall out of his hand and onto the floor, sighing contentedly, despite the blush creeping into his cheeks. Whatever was going on with Tessa would sort itself out. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe…

Alec shook his head, throwing the thoughts away from his mind. If Magnus wanted him to know, then he would tell him. For now, all he wanted to think about was Saturday. Alec silently thanked whatever sickness had infected the Wayndale kids. At least now he wouldn't be distracted from a game. Although, if something happened on their 'date' he suspected he would probably be distracted on Tuesday anyway. Maybe a Thursday game would have been better…

Alec slowly drifted into unconsciousness with Magnus at the forefront of his mind.

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**I hope you all enjoyed that chapter! ff doesn't usually allow faces, so that's why Magnus's text wink is like that. I might make it like a thing that he does though. Idk. Let me know what you think.  
**

**Review and let me know what you thought of this chapter! And don't forget to give me suggestions! Love you guys!**


	9. Brad

**Hey guys! Eleven reviews! YAYYYYY! I love when I get up to ten! I think I might start blackmailing you all into giving ten reviews before I release the next chapter! hehehe**

**No I'm just kidding. For now. I would just like to say that I'm getting really invested in this story and I'm really grateful for all of you who are still reading it. The last chapter has the most visitors I've ever had on a chapter in this story so far! So thank you guys! Oh and I would just like to say I LOVE when you guys leave me long reviews! Oh my god, for real. I couldn't tell you why, I can just tell you that I do. **

**Alisha: don't you dare stop reviewing the way you are! I always feel so happy when I read your reviews! **

**I failed my drivers test today… lol. Yay. And that sucks because I'm already 17 so now I just have to wait even longer to get my license… fuck everything. lol. **

**I hope you all like this next chapter! Feel free to let me know what you like, or more specifically DON'T like, in the reviews! I have it set up so you can review even if you don't have an account on this website, so just keep that in mind. *wink* hint hint. **

**Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story except for the plot. Damn. **

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The week dragged on, every day seeming longer and more boring than the last. By the time Thursday rolled around, Alec was pretty damn sick of being at school. Without Magnus there, everything seemed kind of dull and pointless. Magnus had only texted him one time since he and Tessa left school, and that was just to inform him that he wouldn't be back until Friday.

Soccer practice and been so grueling that Alec hadn't really had time to think about Brad's apparent feelings. Come to think of it, he hadn't really even been able to talk to anyone on the team. The most he had heard from any of them was complaining about how hard Coach was working them. Alec didn't mind it though; it gave him time to put off having to think about Brad's secretly harbored feelings.

"Lightwood!" Coach shouted from the sidelines. "Get your head out of your ass and play some _real football!" _

Alec gritted his teeth and fired the ball toward the goal, smiling when it soared gracefully past the goalie and into the net. How was that for some real football?

Alec winced when he heard Brad whoop and felt a familiar hand clap him on the back in congratulations. _Stop it, _he chided himself. _You'll make it obvious. _

Alec forced a smile onto his face, trying desperately not to pick up on all the things Brad was doing. Even the hint of a smile on Brad's face when he talked to Alec was bothering him. Brad gave him a strange look, and Alec cursed himself for assuming Brad would be as oblivious as he was.

They ran the rest of the drills quickly and Alec laughed when Coach announced practice was over and the whole team sighed simultaneously.

Alec kicked the ball around the field like he usually did, staying longer than the rest of the team to avoid them while they showered. He glanced up every couple minutes to see a few players trickle out of the locker room, sighing impatiently when they took longer than usual. He really just wanted to go lie down on his bed in his dorm, _alone, _and think about how much he missed Magnus in peace. And that was really hard to do when all of his teammates were taking _forever _to shower and get their asses out of the locker room.

"Alec!"

Alec clenched his jaw and tried to calm his racing pulse while the voice came closer.

"Alec!"

He tried his damndest not to let Brad know that he had heard him and began running drills again, hoping Brad would give up and go away. Alec flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him firmly in place.

"Are you okay?" Brad asked, pulling his hand away quickly. A familiar look of worry clouded his eyes that usually would have made Alec smile, happy that he cared at all. Now that look made Alec feel nervous and uneasy, and not in a good way. He looked away, fiddling with the ball so he didn't have to look Brad in the eyes.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've been acting kind of weird this week. I understand if you're frustrated about the game being pushed back. We all are. But I don't want you to-"

"I'm fine." Alec cut in. "You don't need to worry about me." Alec winced at his harsh tone and looked at Brad apologetically.

"You really don't have to pull that with me, Alec." Brad said. Alec bit his lip, unsure of what he was supposed to do in this situation. He couldn't exactly tell Brad that he knew about his sexuality, because that would lead to the question of _how _he knew. And that was _not _a conversation Alec was prepared to have.

"I'm not upset about the game. I swear." Alec finally said. Brad's face was looking more and more concerned by the second.

"Whatever's going on with you… you can tell me, okay? That's what friends are for." Brad paused, taking a deep breath. He looked into Alec's eyes with a blazing fire behind his own. Alec felt his stomach drop, unsure of what direction this conversation was headed. "You know what? Fuck that. Alec, I need to tell you something. Something that I should have told you a long time ago."

_No. No. No. No. No. No. _

"I like you. A lot. And I have for a really long time. I was too scared to tell you because I didn't know how you would react."

Alec held his breath for a moment, frozen where he stood. He really hadn't thought Brad would vocalize his feelings after letting them sit unspoken for so long. He had really hoped this wouldn't happen. Brad stared at him, his eyes wide and obviously nervous, waiting for him to respond. Alec tried to get his mouth to move but failed.

"I know you feel the same way, Alec. I know it." Brad continued. He glanced behind him at the locker rooms, and then back to Alec with an odd expression on his face. Before Alec knew what was happening, Brad was kissing him.

Alec froze in absolute shock at what was happening. Brad was kissing him. Brad was kissing him in _public. _Brad was kissing him in public when he was already with someone.

Magnus's face flew to the front of his mind and he snapped back to reality. He pushed Brad off him and stumbled backward, falling onto the ground in confusion.

Brad looked completely horrified. Alec couldn't tell whether it was because he had kissed Alec or because Alec had pushed him away.

"I'm sorry," Brad stuttered, running a shaky hand through his sweaty blonde hair. "Don't be mad."

Alec wasn't mad exactly, just confused. "What…" trailed off, unsure what he wanted to say.

"Alec, I know you're confused, but I promise you that that was not one sided. You can't tell me you don't feel the chemistry between us."

"Brad-"

"Just think about it. Okay? That's all I'm asking." Brad said. There was desperation in his eyes that made Alec squirm on the grass.

Before he could say anything else, Brad darted off the field and toward his dorm. Alec could feel his mouth hanging open, but he didn't know if he was currently capable of closing it. Moving at all was appearing to be a problem.

Eventually he forced himself to go and get his bag from the locker room and head back to his room.

Alec finally made his way back to his room to find Clary waiting outside it. "Hey," she said happily. Her eyes widened when she caught the expression on his face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure," he answered honestly, unlocking his door and holding it open for her. She stepped into his room hesitantly, glancing back at him repeatedly until he shut the door.

"What happened?" she asked, pulling him toward the bed with her. Alec sat down carefully and stared at her. The moments ticked by silently until Clary gently squeezed his forearm reassuringly.

"Brad kissed me." he said slowly, wincing at the memory.

Clary's jaw fell almost all the way to the floor, shock draining the color from her face. "_What?"_

"I don't know! He just stopped me after practice and told me he liked me. I barely got in a word edgewise before he kissed me and left." Alec let his head fall into his hands, leaning over the side of the bed while his head spun. This was not okay. What was he supposed to do? Brad obviously knew Alec well enough to know he wouldn't go running around the school and tell everyone, seeing as they were both still in the closet- Brad just didn't know that, so he had been confident that Alec would at least consider his proposal.

"But he thinks you're straight!" Clary protested.

"Apparently not."

"He doesn't know about Magnus... does he?" Clary asked, her voice almost a whisper. Magnus. Damn it. Alec pulled out his phone to check if Magnus had texted him yet. Nothing.

"No, not that I know of."

"Oh."

Alec's eyes snapped up at her, surprised about "You don't think I should _tell him," _Alec began, horrified at the thought. Telling Brad he was gay was probably in the top ten things he _never _wanted to do.

"Well, maybe. I mean, he obviously has a thing for you." Clary bit her lip when she saw the expression on Alec's face. "But I might be totally wrong. I mean, maybe he just needs some time to get over it."

Alec tried to believe her, he really did. But all he could think about was the way Brad had told him to 'think about it'. Brad really, truly believed that Alec felt the same way. "Maybe."

A few minutes passed without a word between them, and Alec was once again grateful for how perceptive Clary was. She always knew when he was done talking about something. Or when he needed to keep talking. She could just read people really well.

"I painted you something," she said suddenly. Alec looked at her with surprise, a small smile creeping into his features. "Let me show you."

Alec waited patiently while she pulled her phone out of her pocket and began scrolling through her pictures. She stopped after a moment, looking into his eyes hesitantly. "It's okay if you don't like it. I don't want to be pushy and like, _force you_ to take a painting when you-"

"Just let me see," Alec cut her off, taking her phone with a smile plastered on his face. His smile slowly began to fade when he looked at the picture. His eyes doubled in size as he slowly looked up at Clary, who was biting her lip again, in awe of the talent he hadn't realized she possessed.

In the picture, there were two people lying in a field on a blanket watching the stars. Their hands were linked between their bodies and one of them had their leg tangled in the other's. Alec couldn't believe how amazing the landscape looked. The stars were drawn beautifully, making Alec feel like he was actually there, in that field, watching the stars. There were trees surrounding the couple, framing them perfectly. After a moment he looked at the people more closely to see that it was him and Magnus. Magnus was smiling into Alec's hair, his eyes sparkling in a surprisingly familiar way, while Alec's cheeks were a light pink shade. Alec couldn't believe how real it looked. It might as well have been a picture of the two of them, with how accurately detailed it was.

He felt his stomach twist as he turned to face Clary, unsure what expression was on his face. So many emotions were passing through his mind.

"Clary…"

"You hate it. God, I knew I shouldn't have painted it! I'll just-"

"Clary, it's perfect." Alec breathed, looking back at the picture. "Where is it?"

"In my room. I didn't want to take it here just in case… you know. Jace."

Alec felt his cheeks begin to heat up and chewed on his bottom lip nervously. He and Clary had never really discussed the fact that Jace didn't know he was gay, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that conversation. He knew what Clary would say. She had made it pretty clear that she thought he should come out as soon as he was comfortable, and that that should be sooner rather than later. He didn't know how he could make her understand that he wanted to, he just _couldn't. _

"Oh," he responded simply. He could tell there was something else Clary wanted to say, but he really didn't want her to say it.

"Alec… when are you going to tell Jace?"

Alec inhaled deeply and wrapped his arms around his torso tightly. He'd known this had been coming, but he had been hoping it would be later, rather than sooner.

"You know that me and Jace are… together… ish… and it's getting hard to keep this from him."

"Clary you can't tell him." Alec said tightly. "I'm sorry. I just can't do it yet."

Clary took a deep breath and nodded, not meeting his eyes. Alec felt horrible. How could he do this to her? Clary was the closest thing to a best friend as Alec had ever had, and it killed him to hurt her. But he just couldn't do it. He knew Jace would hate him if he knew the truth. There was no way he couldn't. No one accepted people like him.

"Are you okay with it?" Alec stared at her blankly. "Me and Jace, I mean." she elaborated.

"Uh, I guess. Unless there's some reason I shouldn't be..."

"No! There's not. I just don't want you to think that I was only friends with you to get to Jace."

"I don't think that. You didn't even know who I was the first day we spoke to each other." Clary was almost laughing with relief. Alec slung an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her lightly, hoping to reassure her.

"Simon told me all about your family, you know." She said, laying her head on Alec's shoulder.

"Oh really?"

"Yep. Speaking of which, did you know that you were on the front page of Entertainment Weekly a while ago? After your first game of the year."

"No… I hadn't realized anyone in my family, besides my parents obviously, were even getting any attention." Alec said, his tone flat. This was not good news. The more people that were paying attention to his life, the more people he had to worry about finding out that he was gay. Damn it.

"Yeah! And Jace and Isabelle were on it too." Clary told him excitedly, apparently not noticing his negative attitude toward the whole thing. "When I told my brother I was friends with you guys, he didn't even believe me!"

Alec had to think for a moment before he could remember anything about Clary's brother… what was his name? Stanley… Steve… Sid... Seb. That's it! Sebastian! Alec tried to hold back his glee at remembering the boy's name.

"It's not like we're famous or anything. Sebastian can come up and hang out with us any time he wants." Alec told her, making sure to use Sebastian's name. Clary beamed at him and pulled out her phone again, scrolling in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly her head snapped up and she stared at Alec for a moment with an extremely serious expression.

"Oh my god. I almost forgot about Brad."

"Thanks for reminding me," Alec groaned.

"What are you going to do about that?" Clary asked, her eyes looking deadly.

"I don't know. I honestly just don't know." Alec sighed. He couldn't think of a worse situation to be in, except maybe coming out. But that wasn't really in the cards right now, so this was the worst. He had been friends with Brad for _years, _albeit not great friends, but still friends. He couldn't believe he hadn't caught on sooner. He guessed it was because he was so wrapped up in his own drama.

"I know I would usually be the last one to suggest this… and don't think that when I say this I mean I'm okay with you staying in the closet. I'm not. I think coming out would make your life _eons better. _But… what if you just told him you were straight?"

Alec felt his jaw dropped as he stared at her in surprise. That was literally the last thing he ever expected to hear from her. Like, ever. Clary's cheeks were slowly turning a brighter shade of pink as the seconds flew by.

"I mean, if you're not planning on coming out any time soon… what's the harm? At least you won't have to hurt his feelings."

"That's true."

"And from what it sounds like, he has a huge thing for you. A _huge _thing. Oh god, that sounds wrong," Clary moaned, slapping her forehead. "I mean… I think he really likes you, and I know how you can be. I don't want you to hate yourself for hurting his feelings. And come on, what else are you going to say?"

Alec thought hard for a moment. What would be the repercussions of this decision? What would happen if- _when _he chided himself, Brad found out that he actually _was gay? _Maybe it didn't matter. Maybe he could hold out for the whole year and never have to see Brad again. Maybe he could get away with waiting until the school year was over to come out. It wasn't like Magnus was pushing him. Or anyone, really.

"That's not a bad idea, honestly." he told her. "It would definitely be a lot easier than telling the truth."

"Which you _will do. _Eventually."

"I need to shower," he said, rolling his eyes at her antics as he pulled himself off the bed, with effort, and trudge toward his dresser to grab some clothes.

"I didn't want to say anything, but…"

"Oh, shut up!" he complained, throwing a shirt at her face from across the room. As Clary got up to leave, a thought popped into his mind. "Hey, why were you here in the first place? Not that I'm complaining."

"Oh, nothing. It can wait." She responded with a smile. She got up and hugged Alec tightly before leaving the room without another word.

Alec took a shower quickly and tried not to think about the fact that Clary was obviously avoiding telling him something.

When he got out, he fell backward onto his bed with a sigh, grateful to finally get a chance at some sleep. He heard his phone go off and felt his heart skip a beat, hoping it was Magnus.

It was.

**Hey babe *wink* I hope you're not missing me too much.**

Alec smiled into the phone as his face heated up at the endearment. Magnus never failed to make him blush.

_I probably am. I can't wait for Saturday!_

**At least TRY to be mysterious, babe. It's sexy. **

Alec's face heated up even more, probably burning right off his bones. This is why he didn't like texting. He never knew what to say or do in response to things. It was just too damn hard.

_Sexy is not my strong suit. _

**I beg to differ *wink***

Alec decided right then and there that texting Magnus was utterly impossible. He set his phone down, trying to think of a good response, only to be interrupted by his phone going off again.

**But seriously, I'm sorry I've been MIA all week. I promise I'll explain on Saturday when we have time to ourselves. **

_Sounds good to me. Goodnight, Magnus._

**Goodnight, Gorgeous *wink***

Alec blushed and set his phone down, trying desperately to think about anything _but _being alone with Magnus for an extended period of time. The possibilities were making his mind run wild, and it was all he could do to think of something else.

It dawned on him that he hadn't mentioned the fact that Brad had come on to him in the middle of the soccer field and he immediately felt guilty. He knew he hadn't _cheated _on Magnus, but he still felt bad about not telling him. He didn't want Magnus to think he was hiding it from him. That was definitely not the case. He just hadn't thought about it. He made a mental note to tell Magnus about it tomorrow when he got back as he drifted into the sweet bliss of unconsciousness.

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******Let me know what you think about this chapter! I really like, and even NEED feedback. It helps me write better. I swear. Love you guys! REVIEW! **


	10. Ass Face

**Hey guys! OH MY FUCKING GOD I HAVE 100 REVIEWS ON THIS STORY ASDFGHJKL WHAT IS LIFE?! I LITERALLY CAN'T BREATHE! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH YAY! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH OH MY GOD! Special shout out to Ice-Rose for being the 100th reviewer! Thank you and I love you! Oh my god you guys I'm crying I can't even believe I have 100 reviews! Thank you guys for reading and I love you all. **

**Since I have 100 reviews, I thought I should find a way to celebrate. SOOO, this chapter will be 6,000 words instead of 3,000! I hope you all like it!**

**Also I keep forgetting to ask... How would you guys feel about lemons in this story? Would it make you stop reading? Would you like it? PLEASE let me know. I've been trying to ask this for like 5 chapters but I just keep forgetting. So yep, let me know how you feel about some LEMONS being incorporated into the story. I'm not sure if I will be brave enough to do it either way though lol. **

**Also I've noticed that I end almost every chapter with Alec going to sleep... I don't know how I didn't notice that before. I'm probably going to go out of my way to make sure he's AWAKE from now on. Lol. I'm sorry to anyone who thought that was weird. **

**Oh and just so you all know, I run a twitter account called TMI_Memes so if anyone wants to look me up and chat I'm always willing. The only problem is that I have over 2,000 followers and I feel like I owe it to them to keep up with it so it gets kind of hard to balance the twitter, the fanfiction, and school. I'm trying really hard, but it's tough. I take a REALLY long time to write every chapter, so that doesn't help either. Basically my life is hectic and I'm getting mildly stressed about it. Yeah. **

**Oh and if you guys ever want to see Magnus's POV again, let me know! Like, if we get to a point in the story where you think it would be cool to hear Magnus's side of it. Just a thought. **

**And I think I'm going to start adding a chapter song. The song for this chapter is 'Tighten Up - The Black Keys'. I Love this song and it really fits the second to last section of this chapter, I think *wink***

**Anyway, this A/N is way too long and all over the place lol. I hope you like this ridiculously long chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. All the rest of it belongs to Cassandra Clare, who I envy EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE.**

* * *

"Alec."

Alec rolled over onto his stomach, refusing to acknowledge whoever was trying to wake him up. It was way too early for this shit.

"Alec, you have to get up."

"No," Alec groaned into his pillow, throwing his arms over his head. The light suddenly flicked on, and Alec prayed to God that whoever was trying to wake him up would go away. He yanked his pillow over his head, blocking out the unwanted light and tried his bed to go back to sleep. Alec wasn't usually one to refuse getting up in the morning, but he really didn't want to deal with anything or anyone today. More specifically, he didn't want to deal with one person in particular. Alec steeled his body in place when a pair of cold hands began shaking his body roughly.

"Alexander Lightwood, if you don't get your sorry ass out of bed in the next twenty seconds, I'm going to rip your balls off and shove them up your ass."

Alec rolled his eyes but sat up anyway, squinting when the light seared his vision. "Why are you in my room, Isabelle?"

"Because I need to talk you! It's not my fault you're being a lard this morning."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Whatever," Isabelle muttered. "You're friends with that Simon kid, aren't you?"

Alec ran his hand through his hair, trying to make sense of what was happening. The sheets were now bunched around his hips making Alec shiver as the cold air assaulted his bare chest. "Yeah... why?"

"Because," Isabelle huffed. "Jace is making me go on a double with him and Clary."

"You and _Simon_?"

"Yes! It's going to be a nightmare!"

"Simon's not that bad." Alec defended, smiling. "Just don't let him talk about Star Wars and you'll be fine."

"It's not funny!" Isabelle moaned, throwing herself on the bed next to Alec. Alec laughed loudly, earning a slap on the chest, and patted her head sympathetically.

"Jesus, why are all my friends dating my siblings?"

"We _are not_ dating. Nor will we ever be." Isabelle announced, laughing despite herself. "I never thought of that. Do you mind that Clary and Jace are a thing?"

"No." he answered honestly. "I know Clary's not going to drop me just because she has Jace. She's my friend, she wouldn't do that."

Isabelle nodded and closed her eyes, finally seeming to forget about how much she didn't want to go out with Simon. Alec didn't actually think it was a bad idea, Isabelle and Simon. Isabelle needed to spend time with someone like Simon. She needed to spend time with someone who reveled simply being near someone he liked. And it would probably be good for Simon to see Jace and Clary together. That boy really needed to get over his crush on Clary. And hopefully it would help Isabelle as well. Her one night stands and (sometimes) weeklong relationships were getting hard to stomach.

"OH MY GOD!" Jace shouted, bursting through the bathroom door with gigantic smile plastered across his face. "Did you guys hear that school was called off today?"

"What?" Isabelle asked, sitting up quickly and staring at Jace like he was a raving lunatic. "What are you talking about?"

"The Dean canceled school today because the teachers are all getting behind on their grading and parents are complaining!" Jace pumped his fist in the air victoriously.

Isabelle and Jace were discussing the details of their date while Alec quietly stared off into space, unsure of what he would do with the extra time. It wasn't like Magnus was going to be back until later anyway, and Clary and Simon were both going out with Jace and Isabelle. It had been a long time since he had had time to himself to just do whatever he wanted. Maybe he could read a book. For the first time in his life, the thought of spending the day alone made him wish he had more friends. After everything that had happened with Brad, he just didn't want to spend the day alone. He didn't want to think about it more than necessary. But what else could he do? Unless… Alec smiled as he thought of one other person he could spend time with today.

* * *

"I don't get what's so hard to understand!" Max shouted, kicking a pebble across the concrete. "The lake and the mirror are_ the same thing." _

Alec nodded, pretending he understood what exactly Max was talking about. Max always took it upon himself to explain, in full detail, the entire plot of the last book he had read to Alec every time he saw him. And Max read _a lot _of books. He was throwing a fit now because of some weird series about Angels and Demons that had apparently got his panties in a bunch, which didn't surprise Alec in the slightest. Max always managed to get angry about books, or more specifically, the stupid mistakes- in his opinion- that the characters in said books make.

"I mean, honestly, is the Clave just full of a bunch of idiots? Raziel is _rising out of the water_ holding the Cup and the Sword. Jesus."

Alec laughed at how frustrated Max was becoming. It had been too long since Alec had been able to spend the day way Max; way too long. Max used to beg Alec to read him books and comics when they were younger, but thankfully that had stopped once Max was old enough to understand what was happening without Alec having to paraphrase it all again after he read it. Max was a very independent kid, almost _too _independent for Alec's taste. Alec missed the way Max used to run into his room every night just to make sure he got to say goodnight before Alec was asleep. Now he usually spent most of his time with his friends, who, much to Alec's dismay, he didn't really know very well. Max, being a sophomore, lived in an entirely separate dorm room, across the whole campus. That wouldn't have been a problem if Max was in the same grade as Alec, but since he wasn't, that meant Alec barely got to see him at all.

"Maybe you should call the author and complain." Alec told him, only half joking.

"Shut up," Max said, shoving Alec lightly. "Hey, did Mom ever say anything back to Izzy about Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah," Alec said, a pit of dread forming in his stomach. "She said we'll have to get together for Christmas. Apparently she and Dad are just too busy."

Alec mentally kicked himself for letting his frustration show. Isabelle, Jace, and Alec had all made a sort of unspoken agreement that they leave Max out of all the family drama they could. Not because he couldn't handle it, or because they didn't want him involved, but because he was the youngest and they didn't want him to have to deal with all that shit. None of the Lightwoods had necessarily bad relationships with their parents, but they didn't have good ones either. They all loved their parents, there was no denying that, but sometimes it was hard to come to terms with the fact that work was number one. Not them.

Alec glanced over at Max, who was staring blankly ahead of them, frowning.

"I thought that would probably be the answer." Max said flatly. He took a deep breath and looked back at Alec with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Why don't we all just do something here?"

"Isabelle's already on top of it. She won't tell me what she has planned because she 'wants it to be a surprise', but I would bet it will be something fun." Alec told him, glad that he wasn't too upset that their parents wouldn't be coming back for break.

"And mildly illegal," Max added with a grin. Alec laughed as they turned the corner, only a mile or so from their destination. Isabelle _did _tend to plan ridiculous, and illegal, outings for all of them. But only when their parents weren't involved. Over spring break last year they had all gone to Ireland together. Since their parents couldn't make it they had taken their driver, Hodge, with them. On the plane ride home they had begged Hodge not to tell their parents anything that had happened on the trip, and he had -thankfully- agreed. Isabelle tended to go a little crazy when they went out of country. Jace and Alec had practically dragged her out of the pub every night, prying her off whatever conquest she had chosen. Alec didn't know for sure, but he suspected she had only chosen Ireland because of the drinking age.

That was the main reason Alec was grateful for Lightwood Enterprises. He knew that if his parents hadn't started the business than he wouldn't have been able to go on crazy trips with his siblings, and that would have been a real shame. Those trips were often logged as some of the best weeks of his life, and he wouldn't trade them for anything.

"Do you think Mom and Dad will come to Nationals?" Max said quietly. "If you make it."

"I don't know." Alec responded. They hadn't come last year, but they had a good reason. Lightwood Enterprises had been closing a huge deal that week; a deal that had made the company what it was today. Sure, it stung when they chose the company over him, but he knew they meant well. His parents loved him, despite everything. They weren't the kind of parents that looked down on their kids when they messed up, or pressured them to do better. Maryse and Robert were the kind of parents that encouraged their kids to do what they loved and did anything they could to help them accomplish their dreams. The only problem was that sometimes they got a little too caught up in the glamour of it all and the kids were left in the shadows.

As much as Alec wanted to say that it didn't hurt when they said no to getting together on the holidays, or when they missed a big game, or something important like that, it did hurt. Alec was pretty sure that it hurt Max even more.

Max was a simple guy and he didn't need much to make him happy. On the other hand, it didn't take much to hurt him either. For as long as Alec could remember he had always tried as hard as he possibly could to keep Max from getting hurt and he had been successful for the most part. There were obviously some things he couldn't protect him from, but when it came to his parents, it really stung that he couldn't help. That was all on their shoulders.

"I think they should." Max said, turning suddenly fierce as if he had been reading Alec's mind. "It pisses me off that they don't come to see us. I get that the company's important, really, I do. But we are too."

Alec nodded, unsure how to respond. Max was usually never vocal when it came to parental frustrations, and it was throwing Alec off. Maybe he was just as fed up as the rest if his siblings.

"Whatever, fuck them. We can have a fun break without them." Max said adamantly. Alec raised an eyebrow at him, surprised at his language. "Oh shut up, Alec. I'm not five anymore."

"No, you're not." Alec said, laughing despite his concern. He really didn't want Max to grow up resenting his parents.

They rounded the corner silently and Alec smiled when The Bat Cave came into view. Apparently the owner liked the Batman comics best and named his entire shop after them. It was a pretty kick ass name for a comic shop, so he doubted anyone minded.

He and Max used to come here every weekend the first summer they moved to the States. But after Alec started attending Alicante and partying like it was his job, that had slowly stopped happening. It was good to come back here again.

Max pushed the door open and inhaled like he was smelling a flower garden for the first time, sighing out loud and making all the customers look up at him questioningly. He promptly ignored them and pulled Alec toward his favorite aisle; The Star Wars Aisle.

Max began telling Alec a story about Luke Skywalker and the things he did as a teenager and it suddenly occurred to him that Max and Simon would probably get along _quite well. _He could already imagine the Star Wars conversations that would stretch out for days and days, slowly making them hate anything that had to do with stars or wars. The thought made him smile. Even though Alec put up with all the comic talk, encouraged it even, he really wasn't that into it. Jace didn't even acknowledge Max when he went on about this or that new comic book that had apparently blown his mind, but Alec tolerated it, knowing it would better his relationship with Max. And, as much as he wanted to deny it, he sort of enjoyed some of the comics.

"Hey, Brad's here." Max said with a smile, starting toward Brad, who was just entering the store.

Alec felt his stomach drop and his eyes stretched wider than he would have thought possible. "No, no, no," he whispered, grabbing Max's arm and pulling him back behind the aisle. "We have to leave before he sees us."

"Why?" Max asked, narrowing his eyes. The expression on his face said that he obviously thought Alec was being an idiot. "Are you mad at him?"

"Not exactly… but I can't talk to him. We have to go. Please." He begged. Max rolled his eyes and shrugged, apparently accepting Alec's horrible excuse for now.

"Fine."

Alec peeked around the corner of the aisle carefully, trying his best not to let Brad see him. And then, of course, he slipped and toppled out from behind the shelter of the Star Wars aisle, which unfortunately brought him right in front of Brad. He stared at Brad, his mouth opening and closing a few times, trying to find something to say that wouldn't make him sound like a complete idiot. Brad stared at him in surprise, obviously not expecting to see him so soon.

"Alec?" he said, raising his eyebrows expectantly, as if he wanted Alec to explain his presence.

"We were just going," said Max, shoving Alec toward the door. "Nice to see you, Brad."

The chill air assaulted Alec's face harshly when Max pushed him out the door, using an excessive amount of force, and spun him around to face him.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded.

Alec tried to find a way to explain what the problem was, but couldn't find a way that left out the fact that he was gay, which he could _not tell Max. _"Nothing," he finally said. The word sounded untrue even in his own ears. Damn it.

"Come on, Alec. If you don't tell me I'm going to go straight back in there and ask Brad myself."

Alec's heart nearly stopped and he could feel the blood drain from his face. "No. No, you can't."

"That what in God's name happened? Jesus, Alec."

"There was an… incident after practice yesterday." he said slowly. Max made a face and Alec decided to elaborate before he went charging back into the Bat Cave. "Brad stopped me after practice and…"

"And?"

Alec took a deep, shaky breath. "He kissed me." Alec cringed at the words.

"Oh," Max said, his eyes growing wide. "Wow."

"Yeah," Alec said awkwardly, wishing the conversation was over already. He did not have it in him to tell Max he was gay today. He did not. And this conversation was getting dangerously close to that line of questioning.

"And I'm guessing from your reaction that you don't like him back?" Max asked.

_SHIT. _This was not supposed to happen. Max couldn't know. Alec could feel his cheeks begin to fill with color and his palms began to sweat. "Of course not! Why would you- how could you even- no!"

"Okay! Jesus, Alec. It's just, you've known Brad _forever_ and nothing like this has ever happened before, so it's just surprising." Max shook his head and peered back into the Bat Cave, looking directly at Brad. "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing. He told me to think about it and ran off before I got the chance."

"Well… I would say now is the perfect time to fix that." Max decided. "Just go in there and tell him you're straight. Like, now."

"_Right now?"_

"Why not? There's no reason to make him think he has a chance when there is none."

Alec felt his stomach churn at the thought of it. He and Clary had both decide it would be the easiest thing to do, but was it really the _right thing? _Still, with Max here, goading him on, it was hard to do anything else. Especially when Max didn't even know he was gay. But how could he _not _go in there and tell Brad he was straight at this point?

Alec ran his hand through his hair worriedly, staring at the glass doors with fear pitting itself in the bottom of his stomach. No, it wasn't right. It would just hurt Brad in the long run when he found out the truth, which Alec was sure had to happen eventually. His head began to spin and he was suddenly worried he might vomit all over the concrete. "I can't."

"Why not? It's only going to get worse if you keep putting it off. Don't you have a game on Tuesday?" Max asked. Max glanced back at Alec and his face clouded with concern. "Woah, are you okay?"

"I can't," Alec repeated, his breathing speeding up. He couldn't even see straight anymore, the whole world was spinning. He could hear Max asking him something, but couldn't make out the words. He felt Max lead him toward a bench and push him gently onto it, saying more words he couldn't understand. Something was wrong. Alec leaned over the side of the bench and vomited in the trash can that was -thankfully- next to it.

Suddenly Alec felt something wet touch his face, no, pour over his face, clearing his head. He bolted up from the bench and shook his head fiercely, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Max stood over him staring at him like he had suddenly grown two heads, and handed him the remains of the water bottle that he had just consequently poured over his head.

"Are you okay, man?"

Alec cringed, instantly afraid he was going to vomit again. He didn't answer as Brad walked up to him and Alec with a somber expression on his face. Brad reached out to him, but pulled away quickly when he saw Alec's expression.

"He's fine. But Brad, I don't think you being over here right now is going to help." Max answered for him. He said it kindly, but firmly, reminding Alec of how observant Max was when it came to his siblings' feelings.

Brad's eyes grew in panic as he looked back at Alec. Alec couldn't help but feel guilty for telling Max about the kiss when Brad so obviously hadn't expected, or probably wanted, him to.

"Oh, um…" Brad trailed off, clearly unsure of what he should say. "I didn't- I don't want to…"

"You two have been friends forever, I get that." Max said. "It was brave of you to admit what you did to Alec, and I respect that you did. But Alec is straight and it's not going to happen. So please just be his friend right now."

"Max!" Alec all but screamed.

"It's okay, I get it." Brad said, his mouth hardening into a bitter line. "I should have kept my mouth shut." With that he spun around on his heel and marched away. Alec watched him make his way down the street with dismay. There was no way that that relationship was going to be able to be repaired any time soon.

"Max," Alec breathed. "Why did you do that?"

"You weren't going to, and it needed to happen. It would've been cruel to lead him on and make him believe he had a chance."

"Max."

"Come on, you know it would have been. It's not like you can just pretend to be gay so you don't hurt his feelings. I mean, that would just be-"

"Max!"

"What?" Max said quietly, as if he was noticing for the first time how serious Alec's expression was.

"It wouldn't be pretending." he said. Alec almost vomited again as he watched confusion contort Max's features, followed by a look of realization. Max's mouth slowly formed a perfect 'O' shape. Alec didn't want to know the dots that were connecting in his mind right now, the disappointment that was most likely filling his mind. Max slowly sat down on the bench, patting it gently, inviting Alec to sit with him.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Max asked quietly.

"There wasn't time. Brad just came out of nowhere and-"

"You know that's not what I meant, Alec. Why did you wait this long to tell me?" Alec wasn't sure if he was misreading Max's tone of voice or not, but he could almost swear he could hear _hurt _in his voice. This wasn't what he expected. Alec turned his head sharply at Max, his eyes wide with shock, and stared at him, too surprised to answer.

"You should have known I wouldn't care about something like this. It doesn't change anything. Hell, it really doesn't even _matter. _Who gives a shit if you like guys or girls? Not me."

Alec felt like he was going to explode. He had gone to such incredibly ridiculous lengths to ensure that Max wouldn't find out, and here he was, telling him flat out and Max didn't give a flying fuck. It was almost funny.

"Are you serious?"

"No, I'm joking. Get the fuck away from me you nasty homo." Max said flatly. He shook his head slowly and slapped Alec's shoulder. "Honestly, Alec, you'd think you would have a little faith in your own family."

"I can't believe you're okay with his," Alec mumbled, unsure whether he could really accept reaction or not. This was almost too good to be true.

"Get over yourself," Max drawled, nudging Alec with his shoulder and rolling his eyes dramatically. Max stood up and offered Alec his hand, pulling him off the bench gently, as if trying not to jostle his stomach. "I'm not going to quit loving you because you're gay, Alec. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Alec smiled, but didn't respond as they made their way down the sidewalk. A few minutes of silence passed before Max spoke again.

"You're going to have to tell Jace soon." Max said. "And he can't know that I knew before him. You know how he is about these things."

Alec did know. Jace hated being reminded that he was adopted. Any time they went to visit their grandparents he always winced when their Grandmother made a comment about how much all the kids except Jace looked like their parents. Ever since they were little Alec had always gone out of his way to make sure Jace knew that he was a part of the family, not an outsider. This kind of thing was exactly the kind of thing that would hurt him.

"I'll keep my mouth shut until he knows. If I recall correctly, you told him before me." Max said with a smile.

And with that, the conversation ended and they made their way back to the school smiling, forgetting about the comic shop altogether.

* * *

Alec sat on his bed alone, trying halfheartedly to read Les Miserables. Max had eventually gone to hang out with some of his friends, leaving Alec alone for the night. Jace and Isabelle had gone out an hour or so ago with Clary and Simon, and Alec felt like he was possibly the only student on the entire campus that was doing absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, Magnus hadn't contacted him about when he was getting back with Tessa, so that was out. Most of the rich kids were getting ready for next weekend, leaving the halls quiet and empty. Most kids would be making the most of the long weekend, thanks to Thanksgiving. It was good and bad at the same time. Alec liked being alone sometimes, but not today. Today he was feeling too many emotions to be left alone to deal with them. He missed Magnus, he felt guilty about Brad, he felt angry about his parents, and he felt proud that he came out to Max… but it was just too much.

Alec jumped when he heard his phone go off, and slowly dragged himself off his bed to grab his phone out of his bag, smiling when he saw a text from Magnus.

**Hey, are you busy?**

_Not particularly,_ Alec responded. He rolled onto his back and closed his eyes, tossing the Les Miserables book onto his pillow by his feet. His eyes were beginning to droop and he knew if he kept reading he would fall asleep.

"Knock, knock."

Alec tipped his head back to see Magnus standing in the doorway smiling at him. His hair was down, sweeping across his face as if the wind had blown it there perfectly. His eyes were decorated with minimal makeup, a look that Alec appreciated greatly. He was wearing a pair of skintight, black jeans and a hot pink shirt that looked magnificent against his olive skin. It was all Alec could do not to drool at the sight of him. "It was unlocked," he explained, mistaking Alec's wide eyed stare for confusion.

"Hey!" Alec said, smiling at Magnus sweetly. "You didn't tell me you were back."

"I wanted to surprise you," Magnus said, slowly making his way toward Alec. He knelt down and kissed Alec gently, earning a giggle from his boyfriend. "What?"

"That just made me think of Spider-Man."

"You're ridiculous," Magnus said, shaking his head and pulling Alec upright. "Now let me give you a proper kiss."

Alec complied and melted into the kiss, involuntarily sighing into Magnus's mouth. Three days was _definitely_ too long to go without kissing Magnus Bane.

Magnus's fingers ran up Alec's arms lightly, leaving tingling skin in their absence. Alec shuddered when Magnus's hands slipped under his shirt and began roaming along the sensitive skin on his back. He slipped his hands into Magnus's hair and tugged lightly, earning a soft -but definitely there- moan from the back of his throat. Magnus's mouth moved slowly across Alec's jaw, his teeth gently grazing the skin at the corner of his jaw. Alec was seeing stars. He couldn't believe that one human being could be the cause of the feelings that were steadily growing inside him. Magnus was almost other-worldly in the way he moved, the way he breathed against Alec. Alec didn't even know it was possible to feel _this much _at one time, but somehow Magnus accomplished it.

Magnus swung his legs around on the bed so Alec was sitting in between them, resting on his own feet. He moved his lips back up to Alec's and managed to deepen the kiss even further, which almost knocked the air out of Alec's lungs. His head was spinning out of control and he briefly wondered if it was normal that he couldn't think straight when Magnus kissed him. At all.

Alec slipped his hands up the front of Magnus's shirt, silently thanking God that Magnus wasn't ticklish like he was, tracing invisible patterns along his hard stomach. Magnus wasn't extremely muscular, but he had certain definition to his body that was impossible to miss. He was slight, but firm; a combination that Alec found utterly beyond compare. One of Magnus's hands slipped into his hair as his lips grazed the skin over Alec's jaw, the other slowly moving downward along his chest.

Magnus was everywhere at once, burning trails of pure fire along every inch of his body. Everywhere he touched broke into gooseflesh the moment he removed his hands. His hand moved down even further and grazed the top of Alec's hip bone, sending chills all over Alec's body while his other hand played with the hem of his shirt. Alec pulled his hands out of Magnus's shirt and pulled their faces back together, kissing him with everything he had. Magnus hummed into his mouth and nipped at his bottom lip playfully, causing Alec to smile into his mouth. Magnus pulled away gasping, and leaned his forehead against Alec's. Magnus's eyes darted to the door and then back to Alec's face, then back to the door again as if doing a double take. Magnus's eyes were wider than Alec had ever seen them as he glanced from the door and then back at Alec repeatedly.

"What?" Alec asked, craning his neck to look behind him at the door. Alec's heart almost stopped when he saw what Magnus had been looking at.

Jace stood at the threshold of Alec's room with huge eyes and his jaw hanging agape. Alec couldn't move, couldn't even breathe. This couldn't be happening. _This could not be happening. _Jace and Isabelle weren't supposed to be back yet. He couldn't be here. He couldn't.

But he was. Jace stared at him for a moment longer before wrenching himself out of his frozen state and walked straight through the bathroom and into his room, closing the door silently behind him.

Alec turned to Magnus, beseeching him with his eyes. He had no idea what to do at this point, and he needed Magnus to tell him or he quite possibly would have a heart attack before he had the chance to do anything.

"Go," Magnus said, extricating himself from Alec. Alec didn't move. He wasn't sure that he _could _move. "Go, Alec." Magnus urged him, pushing him gently toward the bathroom. Alec's breathing was speeding up, along with his heartbeat, as he slowly made his way to the door. He looked back at Magnus one last time before opening it. Magnus waved his hand, trying to tell him to go without actually speaking, and Alec took a deep breath and opened it.

Jace hadn't shut the door his side of the bathroom, thankfully, so Alec didn't have to knock. That probably would have made him lose his nerve, if he even had any to begin with.

"Jace?" he said, surprised at how even his voice sounded. He peeked around the corner to see Jace sitting on his bed, facing him.

"I didn't think you'd come in here," Jace said, phrasing it like a question. Alec stared at him silently for a moment, completely unsure of what he was supposed to say.

"I- I didn't- I mean, I'm not-"

"Oh, shut up Alec. I don't know why you're spazzing out right now. It's not like anyone would be surprised by what I just saw."

"_What?_" Alec whispered.

"Alec. I already knew you were seeing Magnus."

Alec froze as Jace's words sunk in. Jace knew. _Jace knew_. And apparently he thought it was obvious and expected Alec to know that he knew. Alec tried to breathe but it felt like there was a truck parked on his chest.

"Why you were going to such lengths to hide it from me, on the other hand, is beyond me." Jace shook his head. "I know you told Isabelle."

"I didn't. She found out on her own." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about what he was saying.

"If she already knew then why didn't you tell _me_?" Jace asked, his expression turning almost desperate. "I don't understand. Am I not trustworthy enough? Did I do something?"

"No! No, you didn't do anything,Jace."

"Then why?"

Alec's heart was thudding against his ribcage almost painfully. Max hadn't wanted an explanation and he was completely unprepared to give one. He didn't even know why he was so scared. Jace had practically just told him that he had known Alec was gay for a long time now, and _didn't care at all. _That should make him jump for joy. It _would _on any normal occasion.

"I don't know. It's hard to explain." Alec said.

"Don't try to pull that shit with me," Jace said, narrowing his eyes. All signs of desperation were gone. "Why?"

"I was scared, alright? You _know _how Mom and Dad would react if they knew. It absolutely petrifies me to know how many people would hate me if they knew." Alec gasped, his breathing picking up. "And now that the company is doing so well, it's even worse! Clary told me we were on the front page of U.S. Weekly a few weeks ago. Us, not Mom and Dad. I just don't want-"

"Alec!" Jace shouted. "Calm the fuck down!"

Alec took a deep, shaky breath and stared at Jace, willing himself to stop his tirade. He couldn't believe he'd just said the things that he did, and he was already starting to feel queasy.

"You didn't answer my question. _Why didn't you tell me?"_

Alec took a deep breath, attempting to expel any fear that was still lingering in his mind. "Your opinion is the most important to me, out of everybody. I didn't want you to think less of me or hate me because of _this_."

"Alexander," Jace began, making Alec's heart nearly stop. No one ever called him Alexander unless he was in trouble. "How could you think, even for a second, that I could ever hate you?"

Alec was speechless. He had expected a lot of things out of this conversation; anger, sorrow, hatred… but never this. He had never expected Jace, the boy who never, _never, _expressed his feelings to say something like this. This was as good as 'I love you' in Jace's book.

"You're my best friend. You're my family. You were the first person to ever tell me that I wasn't adopted, I was engraved into this family. You made me feel like I belonged, even when I didn't think I did. Nothing you could ever do, or be, could ever change that." Jace got off the bed and pulled Alec into an embrace. "I love you, okay? And I don't give a flying fuck if you like guys or girls. Jesus. Now get back into your room and… do whatever it is you two were doing. I promise I won't interrupt again."

Alec flushed a ridiculous shade of red and nodded, slowly walking back toward the bathroom. "Jace?" he said, turning back around once he reached the door.

"What?"

"Thank you."

A small smile crossed Jace's lips before it turned into his usual smirk. "No problem, Ass Face. Now get out of my room."

* * *

**So how did you guys like it? It's more than 6,400 words long, and it was a BITCH to write, so you BETTER like it! I'm expecting LOTS of reviews for this chapter, I'm not going to lie. I put DOUBLE the work into it, dammit! *wink***

**The next chapter will be the date, I promise! So don't be too angry with me for making you wait this long. **

**Anyway, let me know what you think in the REVIEW section! Don't forget, I'm always open to suggestions! Please review! Love you all!**


	11. Going to Magnus's House

**Hey guys! It's Friday, so you know what that means… NEW CHAPTER! I got 16 reviews on the last chapter! FUCK YEAH! Thanks you guys! *insert a bazillion hearts here* You don't even know how happy it makes me to get reviews! It's basically the highlight of my week! I TOTALLY love you all. **

**Hehe I love how many of you want the lemons. *wink* *wink* Don't worry, they'll come. I want this to progress like a regular relationship, so I'm not going to have them jump into bed the first time they're alone, you know? That's why they aren't having sex in every chapter. Yet. *wink* lol jk. Just be glad they don't have sex as often as I do. LOL. (Which is never, if you were wondering.)**

**Also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE how much you all loved Max! I don't know why, but I kind of always just pictured him growing up to be a badass, so I tried to write him that way. I appreciate you all saying that's how he seemed. **

**Oh my god though, I'm rereading all of the reviews right now and you guys are so nice! I'm literally freaking out about it! I know everyone says they love their readers, but I really really really mean it. You guys are amazing and I totally love you all. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments series, no matter how much I would like to. *Dramatic Sigh***

* * *

Alec walked back into his room slowly, more confused than ever. Magnus locked eyes with him and stared at him with an expression that was utterly impossible to read. Alec could guess that he'd heard everything that had been said in Jace's room.

Alec sat down next to him on the bed and jumped when music began to blare from Jace's room. Obviously he had meant it when he said he wouldn't interrupt again. Magnus got up and pushed the bathroom door shut, turning to Alec with wide eyes. A smile slowly crept into his features as he once again joined Alec on the bed.

"I'm not going to pretend I wasn't eavesdropping." Magnus said. He took Alec's hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"I can't believe it," Alec said, his head whirling. "First Max and now Jace? This day is too weird."

"Max?" Magnus said, confusion clouding his face. It suddenly dawned on Alec that Magnus hadn't been here all week _or _tried to contact him, and therefore had absolutely no idea about anything that had gone down with Brad.

_Shit._

Alec felt all the blood rush out of his face and felt instantly terrified. He silently sent a prayer to God that Magnus wouldn't be mad about any of it. "Um," Alec stuttered. "I just-"

"Alec," Magnus warned.

"Well, um, you were busy and I couldn't call you, so I couldn't really _tell you…" _

"Alec, what happened?" Magnus asked. His eyebrows were pressed together to a concerning point, and Alec could feel a knot forming in the center of his abdomen.

"Well, I was feeling really weird around Brad at practice this week, and I guess he picked up on it, so yesterday he decided to come and talk to me about it." Alec paused, trying to put off saying the words for as long as he possibly could.

"And?"

"And… He kissed me. He said that he had liked me for a long time and he was _sure _I felt the same way." Alec shook his head and ran his free hand through his hair.

Magnus's eyes were huge, his expression the definition of shock as he released Alec's hand and pulled at his hair worriedly. _"What?" _

Alec chewed on his bottom lip with distress. He had never been in this kind of situation before, _ever, _and he had absolutely no idea what to do.

"What did you say?" Magnus finally asked, his expression cautious.

"Nothing. He ran away before I could really say anything."

"Where did this happen?" Magnus asked, his eyes narrowing. Alec felt his stomach drop in fear.

"The soccer field." Alec said quietly.

Magnus cocked an eyebrow in surprise. "Did anyone see?"

"I don't think so. I pushed him off pretty quickly."

Magnus's expression lightened immensely. "Good."

"What did you think? I would just let him kiss me?" Alec asked, appalled at the thought.

"No, I'm just glad you made it clear that you aren't interested."

"Well, after this afternoon he _definitely _knows I'm not interested." Alec said, turning red at the memory.

"Jesus Christ, there's _more?" _

"Unfortunately," Alec said. "Since school was called off today, I spent the day with Max. We hung out in my room for a little while, then we decided to go down to the Bat Cave for a bit. And um… Brad showed up. I tried to leave discreetly so I wouldn't have to talk to him, but it didn't work. Anyway, Max ended up telling Brad I was straight so he didn't have a chance." Alec said, wincing at the memory.

"Well that probably wasn't the best thing that could have happened," Magnus said slowly.

"Yeah, tell me about it. I ended up telling Max the truth, and he didn't care at all. I believe his exact words were, 'Who gives a shit'. It was insane."

Magnus laughed and laced his fingers back through Alec's. "Well, I have an inkling that there are going to be some hard feelings on Brad's end of the table, but it's amazing that all of your siblings know now. Really."

Alec smiled and leaned his head against Magnus's shoulder. "You are so perfect." he said. And really, he was. Alec never would have expected him to be okay with the fact that Brad kissed him and he didn't tell him about it. He thought Magnus would be angry with him. But no, Magnus was always surprising Alec, in the best possible ways.

Magnus laughed and slipped his arm around Alec's shoulders, keeping their hands linked. Whether they stayed like this for a few minutes or a few hours, Alec had no idea. Magnus's hands began tracing patterns on Alec's back, and Alec sighed aloud. He squeezed his eyes shut when Magnus moved lower, bracing himself for the onslaught of tickling that was likely to ensue. But it never came. Instead, Magnus nudged Alec's head off his shoulder and brought their mouths together softly. Alec melted into the sweetness of the kiss, turning to putty in Magnus's capable hands.

Magnus pulled away, leaving Alec's lips tingling in their absence, and played absently with Alec's sleeve. "You never told me your full name is Alexander," he said.

"No one calls me that, so I didn't see a point."

"Alexander," Magnus whispered, the name roll of his tongue in an almost sensual manner. "It has a nice ring to it."

Alec felt the corners of his mouth pull upward involuntarily. "Thank you?"

Magnus laughed and pulled their mouths together once again. Moments like these really made Alec realize how much he cared about Magnus. And right now, more than ever before, he thought that he might even _love him. _

Alec pushed the thought from his mind, promising himself that he would talk to Clary about it later or something. Right now all he wanted to think about was this moment with Magnus. And in this moment, he had a feeling he would be hearing 'Alexander' a lot more often than 'Alec' from now on.

* * *

****

Alec woke the next morning with a smile lingering on his lips. He almost texted Magnus to ask if last night had been real, but thought better of it. It had to have been real. Alec couldn't have imagined something so wonderful, he was sure of it. Well, besides Jace walking in on them. That part hadn't exactly been _wonderful._ Alec had had multiple dreams- nightmares, more accurately- where that exact thing had happened. The only difference was the ending. In his dreams it was always bad; Jace telling him he never wanted to see him again, it something along those lines. But reality had been _so much better. _Jace was completely okay with him being gay and that was something he hadn't expected. The moment he had entered his own bedroom after his talk with Jace, he had felt a weight lift off of his shoulders, and so far it hadn't come back.

Alec pulled himself out of bed and showered quickly, feeling more awake than he ever had. Especially in the morning.

"Alec," Isabelle called from his bedroom. Alec yanked on a pair of shorts and towel dried his hair quickly as he exited the bathroom.

"How the hell do you get in here every morning?"

"I have my ways," Isabelle told him, a coy smile dancing on her lips. "So… do you have anything you want to tell me?"

Alec thought for a moment. "Um, not specifically."

"Well, how about that you told Jace _and _Max you were gay yesterday. That's something you forgot to mention." she said. Alec opened his mouth to defend himself but Isabelle held her hand up to stop him, a slow smile creeping across her face. "Don't."

Alec was sure his eyes must have fallen out of their sockets when Isabelle crossed the room and pulled him into a suffocating hug. "I'm so proud of you."

Alec could feel his eyes began to mist over and squeezed her back with the same amount of pressure. "Who told you?"

"Magnus," she replied, almost gleefully. She pulled back far enough to see his face, but kept her hands planted firmly on his bare arms. "He said Jace _walked in on you two._"

"Yeah…"

"_Oh my god! _That's so awkward!" she exclaimed, her eyes almost bugging out of her head. "What did you do, try to explain everything to him in your birthday suite?"

"NO! Jesus! We weren't _having sex, _Isabelle." Alec strained, his face beet red. "We were just kissing."

"That's not what Magnus made it sound like." Isabelle wiggled her eyes suggestively, slapping his bare chest with the back of her hand. Alec felt his face flush an even deeper shade of red, if that was even possible, as he stalked away from her to grab a shirt.

"Speaking of Magnus," Isabelle said. "He told me to wake you up and make sure you're ready in an hour. Which leads me to the question, _where are you going?"_

"Oh. To- uh, Magnus's house." Alec said, trying as hard as he could to hold in the nerves that had suddenly bubbled to the forefront of his mind. He didn't turn around to look at Isabelle, but he could practically feel her eyes burning into his back. God knows he wasn't ready for the sexual discussion that was about to go down.

Isabelle, seeming to pick up on his concern, crossed the room silently and sat on his bed, staring directly into his eyes. "Are you two going to… you know."

"Isabelle!"

"What? You've been together for a while… I mean, it's not like it would be a weird thing."

"I am _not _having this conversation." he told her, trying to ignore his flaming face.

"Alec, you are such a prude."

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are. Magnus is going to have a rough time getting a piece of that." she said, gesturing to his body.

"_Oh my god."_

Isabelle laughed. "Oh, come on, Alec. You can't tell me the furthest you and Magnus have gone is light kissing."

"It doesn't matter how far we've gone. That's between the two of us, and I don't want to talk about it with my _sister _for Christ's sake."

Isabelle rolled her eyes, but didn't push the subject. Alec tried as hard as he could not to be angry with her. She was used to having these kinds of conversations with Jace, who was completely okay with spilling every single gruesome detail of his sex life with anyone who had ears. Although, he had to admit, he hadn't heard Jace say anything of the sort since he started seeing Clary, which was refreshing. Maybe Jace was calming down a bit. Lord knows he needs to.

"I finished planning our trip, by the way." Isabelle announced.

"About time. Where is it going to be?"

"That's still a surprise. But I _will say _you won't need to bring a lot of clothing. It's going to be hot." Alec laughed at that. "And I was thinking…" she trailed off, uncertainly.

Alec's head snapped up at her, taken aback by hearing her falter. It wasn't like Isabelle to be unsure about anything, and the expression on her face right now was downright nervous. "What?"

"Well, I was wondering how you and Jace would feel about bringing people. Not like, a lot of people. Just close friends, or girlfriends or boyfriends. You know." she said quickly.

"I don't see why we couldn't. If we don't like it we just won't bring them next time," he said, trying to pacify her obviously battling mind. Alec wondered why she was being so weird about it. It's not like she even had a boyfriend to bring… that he knew of.

"Okay, cool." she said, relief filling her face. She puffed a breath out of her lungs and stood up. "I'll go tell Jace. You, get ready for your date." Isabelle smiled at him and squeezed his arm briefly on the way into Jace's room.

Alec shook his head at Isabelle's antics and began looking through his things for a decent shirt to wear. Magnus always looked good, even in his uniform, and Alec felt like he needed to look his best when Magnus was around. It was hard to compare with that, but he could at least try.

Alec finally settled on a pair of straight legged blue jeans, and dark blue v-neck. It wasn't great but it was at least passable, compared to the rest of his wardrobe.

Alec pulled out his laptop and got on Youtube for a bit while he waited for Magnus. After a few minutes, he heard a knock on his door, and he felt his heart leap in anticipation. He slid the laptop onto the floor and opened the door, his jaw dropping at the sight of the beautiful human being standing in his doorway.

Magnus's eyes were rimmed in coal, like the first time Alec had seen him, with the tiniest hint of glitter shimmering around the edges. He was wearing a dark green shirt with a wide neck and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. There was some kind of black sheer lining to the whole thing, and Alec almost couldn't drag his eyes away from it. His black jeans were tight and ripped almost all the way down, leaving Alec barely able to keep his thoughts in check. His coat was slung over his shoulder like he had gotten tired of wearing it, and his hair was spiked in all different directions, giving him an unbelievably sexy, just-rolled-out-of-bed-but-I'm-still-this-hot kind of a look.

Alec looked up at Magnus and turned a pink color when he realized he had been openly ogling Magnus in the middle of the hall.

"Hello to you to," Magnus said with a smirk, sliding into Alec's room and shutting the door behind them.

"You look…" Alec said, trailing off. He wasn't quite sure what words would do justice to the way Magnus currently looked.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Magnus said, pulling Alec toward him. "This time," he whispered into his ear. Alec shivered at the warmth of Magnus's breath. Magnus pushed him gently against the door and kissed him gently, making all of Alec's thoughts slowly float away.

It was always like this when he kissed Magnus. Nothing made sense, but in a good way. It almost felt like his head was disconnected from his body.

Magnus twined his hands around Alec's neck, pushing Alec against the door in attempt to get closer. Alec couldn't say he didn't enjoy it. It was so erotic to make out against a door. Alec let his hands roam, tracing the hard surface of Magnus's chest and up his neck. Once his hands made it to Magnus's hair, Magnus pulled away.

"Nuh-uh," He pushed Alec's hands down onto his shoulders. "I did not spend thirty minutes on this so you could ruin it in the first five seconds I see you."

Magnus brought their mouths back together before Alec had time to even think of a rebuttal.

Magnus trailed his lips down Alec's jawline, making sure to hit the sweet spot at the corner before kissing his way down his neck. Magnus broke away and brought their lips together one last time before ending the kiss. Alec's stomach was doing flips as Magnus opened the door once again, gesturing into the hallway.

"Shall we?"

Alec smiled and walked out the door, clenching and unclenching his fist repeatedly, trying to quell his nerves. This was going to be their first date. And not only that, but the first time they would have a substantial amount of time alone, and they wouldn't have to worry about someone walking in on them. Again.

Alec saw Magnus hold out his hand and drop it quickly, as if remembering that they weren't a public item. He wanted to take Magnus's hand and tell him it was alright, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't even bring himself to look Magnus in the eyes until they were out of the building.

They walked down the sidewalk toward the parking area, and Alec almost had a seizure when he saw who was walking on the sidewalk coming toward them.

"Alec?" Brad asked, his eyes darting toward Magnus and then back at Alec again. Alec clenched his jaw and tried to think of something to say to Brad. He was not ready for this conversation yet. He needed time to think about what he could say to fix things, but apparently he wasn't going to get any.

"Hey," he said awkwardly. "I'm sorry about what Max said. I didn't want him to-"

"It's fine," Brad said with a forced smile, probably for Magnus's benefit. "It's not like he said anything I didn't already know." Again, his eyes darted to Magnus.

"Uh, yeah…" Alec tried to think of a way out, but again came up with nothing.

"I was wondering… do you still want to practice before the game on Tuesday? I know you feel weird about it now but… I could really use the practice."

"Of course!" Alec said, praying that would end the conversation. Out of the corner of his eye, Alec saw Magnus's head snap toward Alec, giving him an odd look.

"Thanks, Alec." Brad said, forcing another smile. He hesitated, unsure if the conversation was over or not. Alec grimaced, feeling even worse about what Max had said because of him. This was going to be rough.

"Well, we should get going." Magnus said, pushing Alec forward slightly.

"Where are you going?" Brad asked, locking eyes with Magnus. It almost seemed like he was trying specifically _not to _look at Alec.

Magnus raised his eyebrows at Brad, challenging him. Brad apparently got the hint that Magnus wasn't going to tell him and shrugged mechanically.

"Whatever, don't tell. I'll see you Monday, Alec." Brad said, still not looking away from Magnus. Before Alec could say another word, Brad stalked off, clearly angry, toward the dorms. Alec watched him go with dismay.

"Well, that's going to be a problem," Magnus said, pursing his lips.

"Let's just go," Alec said, not wanting to talk about it. They made their way to the parking area in record time while Magnus went on about how wonderful Alec looked today. Alec couldn't help himself from looking around to check if anyone was within earshot. He didn't think so.

"This is me," Magnus announced, pulling a set of keys out of his pocket and clicking a button on the key set. Lights went off a few feet away from them and Alec felt his jaw drop when he realized it was Magnus's car.

"That is _not your car. _No way."

"Yes way," Magnus said boldly, despite the slight shade of pink that was spreading across his face.

Before them sat a black Bugatti Veyron, decked out with custom made blue lined wheels and a blue stripe across the center. Alec could feel his mouth hanging open, but he was too amazed by what he was seeing to care.

"Aren't these cars like a million dollars?" Alec asked, opening the door to get a look at the inside. The seats were black leather, making the car look even sleeker than it appeared on the outside. The controls looked so futuristic that Alec almost asked if they came straight out of a Star Wars movie. There was a little disco ball hanging from the mirror, making the car twinkle in a matter-of-factly Magnus way. It made Alec smile.

"This one was two million, after all the adjustments I made." Magnus said, almost guiltily. "Tessa just about had a heart attack when I told her I was buying this."

Alec couldn't help but wonder where Magnus's parents were, and how the hell he had so much money. He knew Magnus and Tessa lived together, but he still didn't know why. He had tried to ask once, but Magnus had looked so closed off that he had quickly changed the subject in order to preserve the evening. And he would continue to do that until Magnus felt okay with telling him. They had only been together for a little over a month, and despite how much time they had spent together or how close they were, Alec wasn't going to push anything. He wanted to invite Magnus on the Thanksgiving trip next weekend, but he wasn't sure if that would freak him out or not. He knew it probably wouldn't, but it still scared him.

"She didn't want you to?" Alec asked as Magnus climbed into the car.

"No way. She was totally pissed." Magnus said with a twinkle in his eye. Alec couldn't quite tell if it was the disco ball or just Magnus. "But she got over it."

Alec's laughter was drowned out by the sound of Magnus revving the engine. The look on his face was one of the sexiest things Alec had ever seen in his life.

"What?" Magnus asked, getting a glimpse of Alec's face while he backed out of the parking space.

"Nothing," Alec said quickly. He wasn't about to tell Magnus he was just thinking about how sexy he was. Well, maybe he could... but no, he wouldn't.

The traffic wasn't too bad since they had ended up leaving around ten o'clock, rather than noon like they had originally planned, and they reached Magnus's house in a little under an hour.

"Here we are," Magnus announced, jostling Alec slightly to make sure he was awake.

Alec gave him a look and got out of the car, stretching his limbs. Alec shivered as his shirt lifted and exposed his stomach to the cold November air. He turned his head toward Magnus to make a joke about needing a coat next time but stopped short when he saw Magnus was staring at him, eyes wide.

"What?" he asked, suddenly self conscious.

"You have a six pack," Magnus stated, blinking a few times before smiling at his own awkwardness. "I hadn't realized."

Alec could feel his face blazing, and not from the cold. He wished he had some snappy comment to say in return, but that was just not his forte. "Oh." he said instead. He mentally slapped himself in the face about one hundred times before snaking his arms around his waist and walking toward Magnus.

"You are so cute," Magnus said, scrunching up his nose and placing a light kiss on Alec's mouth. Alec shivered, this time from the cold, and Magnus slipped his arms around his waist, leading him toward the house. Alec leaned into Magnus's side, curling up to his warm body, which currently was the only thing keeping him from convulsing on the ground because of the cold air.

Alec looked up for the first time since getting out of the car and felt his jaw drop at the sight.

There wasn't a house in sight, discounting Magnus's. The sun sparkled along the waterline, which the house was overlooking, making the whole place look like magic. The house was almost entirely see through with how much of it was made of glass. Alec could see the kitchen and a bedroom from where he stood, and it looked completely like Magnus.

There were flowers blossoming near the front door and the grass was still a vivid green, despite the fact that it was nearly December.

"It's beautiful," Alec breathed, still trying to take it all in.

"And private," Magnus added. "That's the main reason I got it."

Alec nodded, hugging Magnus tighter to him as a gust of wind blew toward them, chilling Alec to the bone.

They hurried the rest of the way into the house and Alec was relieved, once they entered, to find that the glass didn't seem to affect the temperature of the house. They had come in the side door because it was nearest to them, and it was way too cold to be outside for longer than necessary. The kitchen was a few feet away from the door they had come in, and Alec could hear a cat mewing from behind the counter.

Alec shivered as he took off his shoes and Magnus slung his coat across the table, peeking around the corner for the animal.

"Chairman," he called, sweeping a tiny cat off the floor and into his arms, cradling it close to his chest.

Magnus carried the cat over to where Alec was standing and handed him the cat. "His name is Chairman Meow."

Alec raised an eyebrow at the name but said nothing. "Hey, buddy," he said quietly, stroking the cat's chest. Chairman immediately took to Alec and began cuddling in his arms.

Magnus smiled and walked out of the room, motion for Alec to follow. He set the cat down on the wooden floor and walked toward Magnus cautiously.

"Come on, let me show you around."

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**Okay I know that's not the best ending, but if I continue than this chapter will be longer than the last one. I feel like that would take away from the "_100 reviews yay party" _thing that we had going last chapter. **

**Also I apologize for the continual build-up of this date. I know you're probably all like, "Get to the fucking date already! Jesus!" and I promise it will happen next chapter. **

**But yeah, I hope you all like this chapter, and don't worry, the date will be fun, I promise! (Well, I hope you all think so, obviously lol)**

**PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you thought about this chapter! Pretty please! Reviews help me write, I swear! **

**Love you all *heart***


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